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Plane Lands in Norway Seconds After New 10-Day Quarantine Rule Takes Effect

Norway News Airports + Flying
by Eben Diskin Aug 10, 2020

Imagine setting off on a vacation to Norway, which you’ve been eagerly anticipating for months, only to discover upon landing that you have to quarantine for 10 days. That’s what happened to passengers on this Scandinavian Airlines flight arriving in Norway from France.

Norway had just added France to its “red list” — countries whose visitors would be asked to quarantine — when seconds later a plane from Nice, France, touched down in Oslo. Instead of embarking on an epic Norwegian adventure as they had planned, all 158 passengers aboard will now be required to self-isolate for 10 days.

The new quarantine rules took effect at midnight, and since the flight touched down just a few seconds later, all passengers must now quarantine at a private address. When informed that the plane landed exactly at midnight, the passengers reportedly erupted in applause. That was probably before they learned about the mandatory quarantine.

According to Elisabeth Johansen of the Norway ministry for Health, “the change to the red zone was from midnight inclusive, so whether [they landed] at exactly midnight or one minute after, they must quarantine.”

Along with Monaco, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, France landed back on Norway’s red list due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

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