The Latest: Norway keeps border with outlier Sweden shut

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norway's government says it is keeping travel restrictions in place for visitors from Sweden, which did not impose a lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Friday that the more than 1,600-kilometer-long (994-mile-long) border between the Scandinavian countries would remain closed.

Solberg said the sole exception would be Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea where the reproduction rate of infections was low.

She said: “I realize this is a big disappointment. But the restrictions are based on objective criteria that are the same for everyone.”

Unlike in most European countries, Swedish authorities advised residents to practice social distancing and only banned gatherings of more than 50 people. The nation's schools, bars and restaurants never closed during the pandemic.

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