diff --git a/.github/actions/build-nominatim/action.yml b/.github/actions/build-nominatim/action.yml
index c6ff7a31..38deeb96 100644
--- a/.github/actions/build-nominatim/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/build-nominatim/action.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ runs:
             else
                 sudo apt-get install -y -qq python3-icu python3-datrie python3-pyosmium python3-jinja2 python3-psutil python3-psycopg2 python3-dotenv python3-yaml
             fi
+            sudo pip3 install -U typing-extensions
           shell: bash
           env:
             UBUNTUVER: ${{ inputs.ubuntu }}
diff --git a/docs/admin/Installation.md b/docs/admin/Installation.md
index 96546cf3..d7d35b7e 100644
--- a/docs/admin/Installation.md
+++ b/docs/admin/Installation.md
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ For running Nominatim:
   * [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org) (9.6+ will work, 11+ strongly recommended)
   * [PostGIS](https://postgis.net) (2.2+ will work, 3.0+ strongly recommended)
   * [Python 3](https://www.python.org/) (3.6+)
+  * [Python Typing Extensions](https://github.com/python/typing_extensions)
   * [Psycopg2](https://www.psycopg.org) (2.7+)
   * [Python Dotenv](https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv)
   * [psutil](https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil)
diff --git a/nominatim/db/connection.py b/nominatim/db/connection.py
index 3bfc582d..21c4f696 100644
--- a/nominatim/db/connection.py
+++ b/nominatim/db/connection.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class _Cursor(psycopg2.extras.DictCursor):
         """ Query execution that logs the SQL query when debugging is enabled.
         """
         if LOG.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG):
-            LOG.debug(self.mogrify(query, args).decode('utf-8')) # type: ignore
+            LOG.debug(self.mogrify(query, args).decode('utf-8')) # type: ignore[no-untyped-call]
 
         super().execute(query, args)
 
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class _Cursor(psycopg2.extras.DictCursor):
         if self.rowcount != 1:
             raise RuntimeError("Query did not return a single row.")
 
-        result = self.fetchone() # type: ignore
+        result = self.fetchone() # type: ignore[no-untyped-call]
         assert result is not None
 
         return result[0]
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class _Cursor(psycopg2.extras.DictCursor):
         if cascade:
             sql += ' CASCADE'
 
-        self.execute(pysql.SQL(sql).format(pysql.Identifier(name))) # type: ignore
+        self.execute(pysql.SQL(sql).format(pysql.Identifier(name))) # type: ignore[no-untyped-call]
 
 
 class Connection(psycopg2.extensions.connection):
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ class Connection(psycopg2.extensions.connection):
                 return False
 
             if table is not None:
-                row = cur.fetchone() # type: ignore
+                row = cur.fetchone() # type: ignore[no-untyped-call]
                 if row is None or not isinstance(row[0], str):
                     return False
                 return row[0] == table
diff --git a/nominatim/db/status.py b/nominatim/db/status.py
index d31196b3..f0039546 100644
--- a/nominatim/db/status.py
+++ b/nominatim/db/status.py
@@ -7,17 +7,30 @@
 """
 Access and helper functions for the status and status log table.
 """
+from typing import Optional, Tuple, cast
 import datetime as dt
 import logging
 import re
 
+from typing_extensions import TypedDict
+
+from nominatim.db.connection import Connection
 from nominatim.tools.exec_utils import get_url
 from nominatim.errors import UsageError
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger()
 ISODATE_FORMAT = '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S'
 
-def compute_database_date(conn):
+
+class StatusRow(TypedDict):
+    """ Dictionary of columns of the import_status table.
+    """
+    lastimportdate: dt.datetime
+    sequence_id: Optional[int]
+    indexed: Optional[bool]
+
+
+def compute_database_date(conn: Connection) -> dt.datetime:
     """ Determine the date of the database from the newest object in the
         data base.
     """
@@ -49,10 +62,12 @@ def compute_database_date(conn):
     return dt.datetime.strptime(match.group(1), ISODATE_FORMAT).replace(tzinfo=dt.timezone.utc)
 
 
-def set_status(conn, date, seq=None, indexed=True):
+def set_status(conn: Connection, date: Optional[dt.datetime],
+               seq: Optional[int] = None, indexed: bool = True) -> None:
     """ Replace the current status with the given status. If date is `None`
         then only sequence and indexed will be updated as given. Otherwise
         the whole status is replaced.
+        The change will be committed to the database.
     """
     assert date is None or date.tzinfo == dt.timezone.utc
     with conn.cursor() as cur:
@@ -67,7 +82,7 @@ def set_status(conn, date, seq=None, indexed=True):
     conn.commit()
 
 
-def get_status(conn):
+def get_status(conn: Connection) -> Tuple[Optional[dt.datetime], Optional[int], Optional[bool]]:
     """ Return the current status as a triple of (date, sequence, indexed).
         If status has not been set up yet, a triple of None is returned.
     """
@@ -76,11 +91,11 @@ def get_status(conn):
         if cur.rowcount < 1:
             return None, None, None
 
-        row = cur.fetchone()
+        row = cast(StatusRow, cur.fetchone()) # type: ignore[no-untyped-call]
         return row['lastimportdate'], row['sequence_id'], row['indexed']
 
 
-def set_indexed(conn, state):
+def set_indexed(conn: Connection, state: bool) -> None:
     """ Set the indexed flag in the status table to the given state.
     """
     with conn.cursor() as cur:
@@ -88,7 +103,8 @@ def set_indexed(conn, state):
     conn.commit()
 
 
-def log_status(conn, start, event, batchsize=None):
+def log_status(conn: Connection, start: dt.datetime,
+               event: str, batchsize: Optional[int] = None) -> None:
     """ Write a new status line to the `import_osmosis_log` table.
     """
     with conn.cursor() as cur:
@@ -96,3 +112,4 @@ def log_status(conn, start, event, batchsize=None):
                        (batchend, batchseq, batchsize, starttime, endtime, event)
                        SELECT lastimportdate, sequence_id, %s, %s, now(), %s FROM import_status""",
                     (batchsize, start, event))
+    conn.commit()
diff --git a/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-18.sh b/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-18.sh
index 3537bcf4..b853cdb5 100755
--- a/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-18.sh
+++ b/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-18.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive #DOCS:
 # Some of the Python packages that come with Ubuntu 18.04 are too old, so
 # install the latest version from pip:
 
-    pip3 install --user python-dotenv datrie pyyaml psycopg2-binary
+    pip3 install --user python-dotenv datrie pyyaml psycopg2-binary typing-extensions
 
 #
 # System Configuration
diff --git a/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-20.sh b/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-20.sh
index 1ea180e8..365f609f 100755
--- a/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-20.sh
+++ b/vagrant/Install-on-Ubuntu-20.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,12 @@ export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive #DOCS:
                         postgresql-contrib-12 postgresql-12-postgis-3-scripts \
                         php php-pgsql php-intl libicu-dev python3-dotenv \
                         python3-psycopg2 python3-psutil python3-jinja2 \
-                        python3-icu python3-datrie python3-yaml git
+                        python3-icu python3-datrie python3-yaml python3-pip git
+
+# Nominatim uses some typing features only available in later Python versions.
+# Install the latest version of the backport package:
+
+    pip3 install --user typing-extensions
 
 #
 # System Configuration