NORWAY BANS SERVING OF ALCOHOL IN BID TO HALT OMICRON OUTBREAK

Tue 14 December 2021:

Norway has decided to ban serving alcohol in pubs and restaurants as part of new efforts to combat the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid virus, in addition to imposing strict rules in schools and speeding up vaccination in the country.

New COVID-19 rules will prohibit the sale of alcohol in bars, restaurants, and other service-based venues beginning Wednesday and expected to last for more than four weeks, while Norwegians are also being encouraged to work from home if possible.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store warned of a “serious” situation where the Delta variant and the highly transmissible Omicron strain would create “a total saturation of the health system”.

“For many, this will feel like a lockdown, if not of society then of their lives and of their livelihoods,” Store said at a news conference on Monday.

“The situation is serious. The spread of infection is too high, and we have to take action to limit this development … Omicron changes the rules,” he said.

Norway has seen an increase in the number of cases and hospital admissions in recent days, with 958 Omicron infections discovered on Monday, 472 of which were in the capital Oslo, according to news agency AFP.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that coronavirus cases, including deaths, were on the rise in Europe.

On December 7, the Norwegian government imposed a limit on the number of visitors permitted in private homes and reduced the hours of operation at bars and restaurants.

Photo: Small group of people protesting against Covid restrictions in Oslo.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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