Norwegian authorities have urged their citizens not to travel to Afghanistan after the latter recently reported a high level of COVID-19 infection.
In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on Norwegians to leave the country in South Asia due to the pandemic situation.
To date, Afghanistan has reported a total of 149,361 COVID-19 infections and 6,864 deaths, according to data published by the World Health Organization.
To keep the COVID-19 pandemic under control, the State Department of Afghanistan previously required all contractors in the country to ensure that their staff were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the State Department, the contractor must ensure full vaccination of its employees within 45 days.
On the other hand, the Norwegian government has also stated that it has decided to step up its measures to prevent an increase in the number of COVID-19 infections.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the country has expanded its advice against insignificant trips to other countries, with the exception of the European Union, the Schengen area and the United Kingdom.
Foreign Minister Ina Eriksen Søreides stressed that the move was made in line with the fourth phase of Norway’s strategy to open borders to EU / EEA travelers.
She also said that the situation with COVID-19 is still confusing in many other countries.
However, despite the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic, Norwegian citizens are no longer advised to avoid traveling to the following countries: Albania, Canada, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Moldova, Japan, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, New Zealand , Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Ukraine, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and the United States.
This decision was made after assessing that the authorities of the above-mentioned countries managed to keep the pandemic under control.