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Norway will ban the serving of alcohol in bars and restaurants, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said, as part of new COVID-19 restrictions intended to stem the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
There’s “no doubt the new variant changes the rules,” Gahr Støre told a news conference Monday, announcing the country’s fourth round of measures in two weeks. “That’s why we need to act fast and we need to act again.”
The government also announced stricter rules for schools and the closure of gyms and swimming pools to some users as well as speeding up its vaccination campaign.
“For many this will feel like a lockdown, if not of society then of their lives and of their livelihoods,” the PM added.
Norway has reported the largest outbreak of Omicron in continental Europe, with 958 cases confirmed, according to the daily bulletin of the EU’s disease control agency on Monday.
“Already in December, the Omicron variant will cause an increase in the number of sick people, many hospital admissions, and a significant strain on the healthcare service and society, through widespread sickness absence,” the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said in a report.
The number of daily COVID-19 cases has skyrocketed from almost 500 in early October to over 4,000 on December 12, with a peak of over 6,000 on December 6, according to figures from the FHI.
The number of hospitalizations has remained steady with around 30 new patients admitted every day in December.
Source: Politico
