Country of Norway Relies on Everbridge Public Warning to Alert Citizens Traveling Internationally to Mitigate COVID-19 Risks
BURLINGTON, Mass.: Everbridge, Inc., the global leader in critical event management (CEM) and countrywide Public Warning solutions, has announced Norway’s Directorate of Health leverages the Everbridge Public Warning solution to quickly alert tens of thousands of Norwegians traveling outside the country of the changing risk landscape related to COVID-19 as well as the latest procedures and protocols such as recommended quarantine guidelines. Due to mounting coronavirus cases in multiple tourist destinations, Norwegian authorities rely on Everbridge to inform citizens abroad of new guidelines necessary upon re-entering their home country. With the Everbridge Public Warning system, the Directorate of Health in Norway can provide timely, valuable and potentially life-saving information while completely protecting the privacy of the recipient, with no personally identifiable information (PII) collected, to deliver a customized SMS alert to those specific Norwegian travelers, advising them of official information from the Health Ministry.
“To those of you who are on holiday…,” the alerts read in part, “Increased infections [in your current location] make it likely that Norwegians traveling will be quarantined when they return home.”
Everbridge’s hybrid Public Warning system, combining cell-broadcast and address-, group-, and location-based technologies, makes it possible to send mobile alerts (while maintaining privacy) to all, or specific, Norwegian citizens – whether they are in Norway or traveling in another country – allowing government agencies to fulfill their Duty of Care to inform citizens of critical information related to virus hotspots and required protocols upon returning home.
“We use Everbridge…,” stated Assistant Health Director Espen Rostrup Nakstad in an interview with Norwegian TV 2. “When we choose to send SMS, it is to make Norwegian tourists aware that the situation is about to change, and that it is important that they follow and assess their own situation.”
In April, the Norwegian Directorate of Health relied on Everbridge to send 5.4 million alerts to the entire population of Norway and to 300,000 foreign visitors, advising them of pandemic lockdown restrictions. The Health Ministry delivered the messages in the recipient’s language of choice, including Norwegian, English, French, German, Spanish, Polish and Russian.
The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the recent mandate requiring EU member countries to have a population-wide alerting system in place by June 2022, provides a major catalyst for the adoption of population alerting systems.
“The Norwegian Directorate of Health demonstrates model leadership by ensuring its people stay safe and informed when traveling outside the country,” said Javier Colado, Senior Vice President of International at Everbridge. “We are honored to support Norway in this public safety initiative which protects privacy while ensuring every Norwegian citizen remains vigilant wherever he or she travels.”
Everbridge supports population-wide alerting in 11 countries across Europe, Asia, Oceania, The Middle East, Africa, and South America including Australia, Greece, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Singapore and Sweden. Everbridge’s population alerting capabilities also power some of the most populous states in North America including Florida, New York, and California, as well as over 3,700 municipalities, counties and cities within 49 of the 50 United States, within all of Canada’s provinces, and throughout Europe and Asia, including deployments within multiple populous states in India.
