Norway has joined the list of Schengen Member States intending to resume travel to and from the rest of Europe in time for the summer of 2021. The Norwegian government has announced that it intends to introduce vaccination certificates by early June to allow Norwegian citizens and residents to be vaccinated. to enter and leave the country for non-essential purposes, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
The decision was revealed by the country's Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who also stressed that the certificate will also be verifiable in accordance with the EU travel certificate COVID-19, which the EU bloc intends to launch by the end of June.
The certificate could initially be used for larger public events, cruises and excursions, but the government does not yet have a complete list of what the certificate wants to be used for. To date, only 6,8% of the Norwegian population has received the first dose of vaccine against the virus, a much lower percentage than in other countries on the continent.
Norway will introduce vaccination passports starting in June.
Since the beginning of the year, several European countries have warned about their plans to start issuing vaccination certificates / passports, those vaccinated, in an attempt to restore and revitalize the tourism and hospitality industry in their territory, but also in other countries. EU and the Schengen area.
Denmark is one of the countries that has warned that it will soon introduce COVID-19 vaccine passports for citizens receiving the virus vaccine so that it can use these certificates to travel without restrictions to the countries that request them. The certificate called Coronapas will be launched on June 26.
On the other hand, from 6 April, travelers from third countries were allowed to enter Iceland for non-essential purposes if they prove that they have been vaccinated or immunized. Greece, on the other hand, it intends to reopen the borders of all vaccinated and recently immunized travelers, starting 14 May.
In April last year, an EU official confirmed to SchengenVisainfo.com that the COVID-19 test result and vaccination proof would be two main mandatory requirements to enter the EU and the Schengen area, once the borders reopen for travel.
Norway has one of the lowest infection and death rates in Europe, mainly due to the strict measures that have been in place since the beginning of the pandemic.
As Member States issue their own individual certificates, all Member States will align these documents with the travel certificate approved by the European Parliament, EU COVID-19 Certificates, to be released by the end of next month.
According to travelers for non-EU citizens and the Schengen area, the EU Commission last Monday proposed to Member States to gradually begin reopening borders for arrivals from third countries, including tourists, who are vaccinated against the virus.