Infection records and new measures in Sweden. Norwegian municipalities get...

Residents of Stockholm and Gothenburg are asked to avoid shops. People in Oslo have to wear face masks in several places. France introduces new closure. The government proposes an extra 7.3 billion to the municipalities. These are the most important corona news on Thursday.

Thursday has been a dramatic day in corona development, and it can be difficult to follow everything that happens. Here are some of the highlights:

New infection control rules come into force in Oslo.

From Thursday, new and stricter infection control rules apply in Oslo. These are in addition to the national rules that were introduced on Wednesday.

These are the new rules:

• Mandatory for bandages indoors in public places, such as shops and malls, where one can not maintain one meter distance.
• Guests and staff must wear handkerchiefs indoors in restaurants where you are not sitting at a table.
• The maximum limit on the number of people who can gather at indoor events is reduced from 50 to 20 where there is no seating.
• It is forbidden to let new guests into restaurants after 22.00.
• The number of contacts during a week should not exceed 10 people in social contexts, in addition to household members, colleagues at work and kindergarten and school cohorts.
• Colleges are encouraged to introduce digital teaching where possible.
• Order for a home office and a requirement that all employers must document that the employees have been informed that they must have a home office as far as practicable.

Sweden tightens measures: Asks people to avoid shops and gyms

In the last 24 hours, a new infection record has been registered in Sweden with 3254 new cases.

The sharp increase in infection means that the Swedish Public Health Agency is now introducing far stronger infection control measures in Stockholm as well as in Västra Götaland, where Gothenburg is located, and in Östergötland. Such measures have all been implemented in Uppsala.

• People are asked to avoid shops and malls, libraries and swimming pools. Necessary trade in grocery stores and pharmacies is fine.
• They are asked to refrain from attending concerts and meetings, and they are asked to refrain from having physical contact with anyone other than those they live with.
• People over the age of 15 are asked to avoid training and sports matches.

The measures apply until 19 November, but can be extended.

In the last 24 hours, seven new coronary-related deaths have been registered in Sweden. The death toll is now 5,934. More than 121,000 people have been confirmed infected since the pandemic broke out.

France introduces lockdown – not allowed to visit friends and family

In France, residents are now not allowed to visit friends and family. Leaving home is only allowed for shopping for food, traveling for work or for medical or important family reasons. This was stated by Prime Minister Jean Castex at a press conference on Thursday, reports Reuters.

• Exercise outdoors is only allowed for one hour per. day and within one kilometer of the home. Everyone who moves outdoors will have to show a document.
• It is forbidden to travel domestically, and everyone must work from home in the coming week unless it is completely impossible to carry out the work from home.
• French school children over the age of six must wear face masks during school hours.

The new lockdown comes the day after President Macron unveiled new austerity measures on Wednesday, which partially shut down the country. Among other things, bars, restaurants, cafes and shops will be closed, and teaching at universities must be carried out digitally.

In Paris and several other regions in the country, a curfew was introduced earlier this month from 9 pm.

The government proposes an extra 7.3 billion for the municipalities in 2021

Minister of Local Government Nikolai Astrup (H) is allocating an extra 7.3 billion to the municipalities in the 2021 budget to cover extraordinary corona expenses in the first half of the year.

A working group with representatives from KS and several ministries recently presented an interim report on the municipalities’ finances in the wake of the pandemic.

– The proposals are based on the working group’s calculations and will cover additional expenses and lower income related to the corona pandemic in the first sea year of 2021, Astrup said at a press conference on Thursday.

The Storting tightens the infection control rules – recommends bandages for the representatives

The Storting now recommends that the representatives use face masks when it is not possible to maintain a distance of one meter.

The recommendation also applies in the Storting hall when the representatives are in their seats, according to the Storting’s presidency.

The Storting is also tightening the infection control rules in several other areas.

At physical meetings, as far as possible, a distance of two meters must be maintained between the participants. At the same time, all domestic committee trips are canceled until the end of the year. Committee trips abroad have long since been canceled.

Record high infection in Drammen – tightens measures

28 people in Drammen municipality have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease in the last 24 hours. This is the highest number of new cases of infection in one day since the corona pandemic broke out, the municipality writes in a press release.

On Thursday, the municipality introduced a number of new recommendations, which apply from Friday at 12 noon.

Drammen recommends that the inhabitants of the municipality do not have contact with more than ten people in social contexts during a week.

– Now it is serious, said Drammen mayor Monica Myrvold Berg (Labor Party) at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

The mayor also said that they recommend a maximum limit of 20 participants at indoor events without fixed seats, and that they are considering political treatment of a ban.

Infected at Setermoen was at a party with close to 200 participants

The two people who are infected with corona and associated with Setermoen camp, participated in a party with nearly 200 participants on Saturday, reports the Armed Forces Forum.

The participants in the event were in cohorts, and before the event a request was sent out to keep the ten-day quarantine before the event.

Spokesman Eirik Skomedal in the Army informs the newspaper that the participants were in their cohorts before, during and after the event. These cohorts are the same people who work together on a daily basis, and they kept their distance from each other during the event. So did individuals, according to Skomedal.

Between 30 and 40 employees have been quarantined, and municipal chief physician Vidar Bjørnås has stated that between 60 and 70 will be tested for the virus in the municipality on Thursday.

Spain introduces six months of crisis

The Spanish parliament has approved a six-month extension of the state of emergency that was introduced to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez imposed a 15-day state of emergency. On Thursday, the parliament approved an extension which means that the alarm condition will last until 9 May.

The measure allows regional authorities, which are responsible for health, to restrict freedom of movement, which includes the introduction of curfews and closing borders if necessary.

Other corona news around the world

Hellas introduces lockdown in the country’s second largest city Thessaloniki and two other regions. The country had little infection this spring compared to other countries in Europe, but recently the infection has increased sharply. The regions that introduce lockdown prohibit private and public gatherings in addition to travel to other regions.

Italy set a new infection record with 26,831 new registered cases in the last 24 hours. The daily death toll has been over 200 since Tuesday this week, a level the country has not experienced since mid-May. On Thursday, the authorities introduced new restrictions. Now bars and restaurants must close the restaurant at 6 pm, while cinemas, theaters and gyms must be closed.

India has now registered 8 million corona cases. Only the United States has been hit harder by the pandemic. In the next few weeks, India is expected to surpass the United States’ more than 9.1 million cases of infection and become the hardest hit country in the world.

Marshalløyene has for the first time registered corona infection, after two people who flew from the United States to a US military base in the country, tested positive. The island nation in the Pacific Ocean with 78,000 inhabitants was among the last places in the world without registered cases of infection.

Taiwan has passed 200 days without domestic infection. In total, the island state has had 553 cases of the coronavirus and seven deaths. The Taiwanese National Institute of Public Health last reported a domestic case on April 12.

In Finland goes the four regions Kymmernedalen, Norra Österbotten, Norra Savolax and Åland in Finland go from yellow to red. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thus advises against travel that is not strictly necessary to the regions, and from midnight on Saturday 31 October, everyone who comes to Norway from these regions must be quarantined for ten days. At the same time, six regions are going in the opposite direction. North Karelia, Lapland, Länsi-Pohja, Central Ostrobothnia, South Ostrobothnia and Southern Savonia go from red to yellow, so that the quarantine requirement can be lifted.