The vast majority of people traveling to Norway must undergo a ten-day quarantine. This has created problems at Oslo's international airport, Gardermoen, where hotels are overcrowded and travelers are now complaining about the chaos.
”"I haven't been in any other situation in recent weeks where I have experienced a greater risk of infection," a passenger tells NTB.
The Norwegian woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is one of many witnesses to the situation at Gardermoen. She says she was almost shocked by the reception when she arrived at Gardermoen from one of the countries that Norway has redlisted – and will therefore be in a ten-day quarantine.
She says she was met with chaos and equally poor and ambiguous information.
”"It was very clear that all the employees, both guards and border control officers, were confused and that they were having a hard time dealing with the situation. They were doing their best, but it was difficult for them. They seemed quite despondent," she says.
The chaos worsened on Thursday evening when passengers on late flights were supposed to be placed in hotels inside Oslo but were instead taken to the already full hotels at the airport and, according to the newspaper VG, several people who were supposed to be in quarantine were forced to share rooms with people they did not know.
”It was a regrettable communication failure,” says Gunnhild Grimstad-Kirkeby, municipal director of Ullensaker municipality.
”"An extraordinary situation arose when far more passengers arrived than before. Unfortunately, we were not aware of this, as we are not informed about who is going to the hotels before they have passed the border control and our reception system is not designed for such a large number of passengers."”
The passenger NTB spoke to says that after passport control she was forced to wait in an overcrowded room for almost four hours before she was allowed to leave the airport and was bused to Oslo.
She, like many others in quarantine, is now hoping that the hotel stay will be short. The Norwegian government has indicated that new quarantine rules will be introduced as soon as Monday and that travelers will be able to serve the quarantine period in their own homes or other accommodations, if they have access to one.
”"I choose to believe that it will be introduced as soon as possible. This whole situation shows the necessity of changing the quarantine rules," says the passenger.
Almost all countries in Europe are currently redlisted of Norway. Only Greenland and parts of Finland receive the slightly milder yellow marking, which indicates that entrants do not have to be quarantined. To travel to Norway, you must also be able to show a negative corona test.
Just over 40,000 people have been confirmed infected in Norway, and 387 people have died.
Source: TT
