From Iceland — Police Quarantine Hunt: Visitors Have Already Left Iceland

Police Quarantine Hunt: Visitors Have Already Left Iceland

Published February 12, 2021

John Pearson
Photo by
HMH

Four men wanted by police on suspicion of breaking pandemic law appear to have left the country, Vísir reports.

Two days ago Vísir stated that the police were looking for two American men regarding this infringement, following a report from staff of a Reykjavík bar that the men had been overheard admitting to breaching quarantine regulations.

However the website has now updated the story to report that the people of interest to police are actually one American and three Europeans, although it is not clear how Vísir has ascertained their nationalities. The updated story also states that the group were in Iceland working for a company which recalled them once it became aware of their alleged offence. The men subsequently left the country before police could speak to them.

Jóhann Karl Þórisson, Assistant Chief of Police said: “This is serious. We have these rules and we intend to follow them. We are trusting people to follow the recommendations and if people are deliberately breaking them, the police must address it.”

In the next few days Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason will make proposals designed to prevent further incidents of this kind, RÚV reports.

“It is possible to tighten various processes and verify the information that tourists bring, whether they provide the correct telephone number, the correct address, where they intend to be and so on,” Þórólfur said.

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.

Support The Reykjavík Grapevine!
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!

Show Me More!