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NEW QUICK COVID-19 TEST CENTER FOR SVALBARD TRAVELLERS: Drop-in station in Tromsø city center offers 550 kr. tests for people bound for Svalbard or Denmark

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People travelling to Svalbard still need that infuriating (to some) negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours of departure, but the city of Tromsø is removing a bit of the financial and scheduling hassle as a new station in the center of town is offering walk-in vaccinations and negative certifications for the relatively low fee of 550 kroner – but only for those travelling to Svalbard or Denmark.

The new center at Fredrik Langes gate 14 is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., although it is closed between 11 a.m.-noon and 6-7 p.m., according to an announcement at the city’s website and social media pages. No appointment is required.

“Travellers to Svalbard or Denmark who need a certificate on a negative test response are welcome to take the quick test here at 550 kr.,” the announcement states. “Certifications of negative quick tests are only offered to travellers to Svalbard and Denmark.”

Those being testing must wear face masks, provide identification and the name of their general practitioner (although the latter does not apply to foreign travellers who do not have a practitioner in Norway).

Numerous Longyearbyen residents and businesses have said the testing requirement and fees impose an unreasonable hardship, especially for those needing to travel between Svalbard and the mainland regularly for reasons such as work or health treatment. Some quick tests in Oslo cost as much as 3,000 kroner.

 

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
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