Government press conference on Covid-19  

The Norwegian government will hold a press conference on Covid-19 at 12:15 pm today. 

It is unclear whether the government will be announcing whether the final step of its reopening plan will go ahead or if it it will be delayed further. 

The government previously postponed the final stage of its exit plan from Covid measures earlier this month due to concerns over the Delta variant. 

Prime Minister Erna Solberg said at the time that the lifting of measures would be pushed back until late July or early August. 

Minister Of Health Care Services Bent Høie, Director of Health at the Norwegian Directorate of Health Bjørn Guldvog and Assistant Director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) Gun Peggy Strømstad will all be at the event. 

We will have all the details covered for you in an article later today

Equinor rakes in 41 billion kroner in profit for the second quarter 

Higher oil and gas prices contributed to a 41 billion kroner pretax profit for state-owned energy giant Equinor in the second quarter. 

Equinor’s profits were more than ten times higher than the same quarter last year, but ten billion kroner lower than the first quarter of this year. 

EXPLAINED: Why is Norway such a wealthy nation?

Despite the high profits in the second quarter, Equinor had underperformed compared to what analysts had expected. 

Authorities unearth massive weapons haul helping pensioner rehome cats

Norwegian authorities got a lot more than they bargained for when they unearthed a weapons haul containing dozens of weapons, a bazooka and ten kilos of dynamite when helping a man in his 70’s rehome more than 30 cats. 

The man from Stavanger had asked for help rehoming his cats when authorities found several boxes of weapons and dynamite. 

Three days after the find in 2019, the 73-year-old was taken into police custody. 

The majority of weapons had been deactivated, but others were still functional. The lawyer for the man said that the weapons and explosives were obtained legally. 

At the time of the discovery, the man was spared prison, but now the prosecution services have issued an indictment against the man and believe they can prove the man stored around

• 10 kilos of dynamite
• 20 kilos of gunpowder
• A pyrotechnic bomb
• Five fully automatic submachine guns
• Ten semi-automatic pistols
• 15 rifles
• Five semi-automatic rifles
• 13 shotguns

273 new Covid-19 infections in Norway 

On Tuesday, 273 new coronavirus cases were registered in Norway. This is a rise of 49 compared to the average for the previous seven days of 224.

In Oslo, 39 new Covid-19 infections were recorded. This is compared to the two week average for the capital of 24.