Iceland To Be Potentially Red-Listed By Several European Nations

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iceland has increased greatly in recent days, with the current number of people in isolation at 91. Due to this increase in infections in Iceland, the country is at risk of being red-listed by several countries, Vísir reports.

Currently, travellers arriving from red-listed countries either have to go into quarantine upon arrival to a new country, or may even be denied entry. Many countries weigh these decisions based on 14-day incidence rates per 100,000 inhabitants. The incidence rate is currently 18.5 in Iceland, according to covid.is.

The World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have been keeping track of the rates of infections in countries around the world, and the Icelandic government recently had its statistics changed, including in the rates of infected individuals who were found to have antibodies in the border screening. Estonia and Latvia thus placed Iceland on their red-lists of countries whose citizens must be quarantined for two weeks upon arrival at their borders.

Estonia and Latvia designate any countries with more than 16 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the last two weeks as red-listed. Norway, meanwhile, requires an incidence rate of 20, so Icelanders can expect to not be red-listed there in the immediate future, unless cases get worse here.

For more information on Iceland’s COVID-19 response, go to covid.is.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.