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Owen Tyrie

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Vísir/Vilhelm

At a meeting this morning, the government have decided to accept valid COVID vaccination certificate from passengers entering Iceland from outside Schengen, Vísir reports. More detailed information on this can be found here.

This will mean that those vaccinated from coronavirus from countries such as the United Kingdom and United States will be able to enter the country.

Welcome back to Iceland

This announcement was made by Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Minister of Justice, to reporters after the meeting between government officials. According to Áslaug, this will take effect this week.

Similarly, certificates of previous COVID infection will be validated. Those who present such certificates do not have to go to a sampling or quarantine or present a certificate of negative PCR testing at the border.

Under pressure?

When asked if this announcement was made in response to pressure from the tourism industry, Áslaug said that herself and Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the Minister of Health, agreed that it was important to accept these certificates from countries inside or outside Schengen.

Áslaug said that the United Kingdom and United States are our “largest market” of tourists and that it was important that people from these countries had the opportunity to come to Iceland.

Going against the EU recommendations

The current rules state that vaccination or antibody certificates will not be accepted at the Icelandic border if an arriving passenger comes from a country outside the Schengen co-operation.

This rule was set out as a recommendation from the Council of Ministers of the European Union.

Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason said yesterday that he thought it would be a mistake to take only valid vaccination and antibody certificates from Schengen countries at the border.

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