Long-Term COVID-19 Planning Team Appointed

A new five-member team will soon be appointed to oversee COVID-19 response measures until 2021.

The establishment of the committee was announced in a government statement signalling the start of “another chapter” in Iceland’s COVID-19 response. The Health Ministry intends to prioritise long-term measures, acknowledging that Iceland may be living with the virus for many more months, if not years.

According to the statement, a planning consultation workshop will be hosted by Health Minister Svandís Svavarsdóttir on August 20th to allow representatives from several government ministries to discuss long-term measures. Following the workshop, the five-member team will be established and will work under the direction of the Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason until 2021.

The release also confirmed that Þórólfur has advised the Government to continue COVID-19 screenings at the border indefinitely. As reported, deCODE has rejoined the project temporarily to relieve pressure on Landspítali’s virology department until health authorities can obtain equipment to boost testing analysis capacity.

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