At a press conference held just moments ago, chief epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason, chief of medicine Alma D. Möller (above), and chief of police at Civic Protection Víðir Reynisson went over the most recent events of the pandemic. Þórólfur said that if it turns out that Omicron does indeed express itself in milder symptoms, it may be possible to relax some restrictions. Today’s numbers being lower, and the number of people getting booster shots, is encouraging, but the coming days will paint a clearer picture.
Alma emphasised recent reports that hospital staff are under a tremendous workload at the moment. Landspítali hospital is now on an emergency level, with even some hospital staff needing to go into quarantine or isolation. Those showing symptoms are asked to take a PCR test before visiting a health clinic or hospital.
She furthermore encourages everyone to install the Rakning-19 app (Google Play, Apple) and keep it active, both for contact tracing and to know if you have been exposed. Bear in mind that the app was updated on December 15th, so if you already have it installed, be sure to update it to the latest version.
In other news, there were 744 recorded domestic cases of the coronavirus in Iceland yesterday, plus an additional 81 at the border. Of yesterday’s domestic cases, 446 were outside quarantine at diagnosis.
495 are in border screening quarantine, with 7,710 in domestic quarantine and 5,534 in isolation. 21 are currently in hospital with the virus, with six in intensive care. While Omicron accounts for some 80% of current cases, only three of these cases account for hospitalsations. None of those hospitalised have had booster shots.
Meanwhile, the 14-day incidence per 100,000 people for fully vaccinated adults who have had a booster shot is 543.7 (0.54%); for fully vaccinated children (i.e. those born in 2006 or sooner), 808.5 (0.81%); for fully vaccinated adults without a booster shot, 2,066 (2.1%); for unvaccinated adults, 1,262.9 (1.3%), and for unvaccinated children, 1,658.9 (1.7%). With this data, bear in mind that 283,740 people aged 12 and older have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of December 28th, comprising 90% of this age group. 157,925 have also received booster shots.
Those who receive a second Jansen dose are also asked to get a booster shot, and children aged five to 11 will also be vaccinated, beginning after the new year.
Getting a booster shot is a very straightforward process, with no barcode required. More information on that can be found here. For your first and second vaccination, you can sign up here.
As always, be sure to abide the domestic restrictions and border regulations.
More statistics and information can be found at covid.is or below.
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