Þórólfur Guðnason, the chief epidemiologist, believes that tourists who are visiting Iceland are breaking the five-day quarantine between the first and second screening.
He will propose new regulations to the Minister of Health soon. The new regulations will likely emphasise changes in the current border regulations and better monitoring of quarantined individuals.
Classic Þórólfur
As usual, Þórólfur did not go into detail on what the new proposals are but he did state that the border rules need looking into.
The epidemiologist said: “We have been seeing the spread of these cross-border infections into the community and I think that may be the origin of these infections that we have been diagnosing domestically recently.”
Þórólfur went on to say that it is clear that not all people who are coming into the country are adhering to the quarantine rules set in place.
“It is clear that there are sometimes violations there. If we are going to make certificates valid, we only need to change their approach,” says Þórólfur.
Don’t want stricter rules, but they may be necessary
There have been a few cases of infections domestically that are causing increased concern with officials.
Six individuals were diagnosed domestically over the weekend, three of whom were quarantined at diagnosis. Those diagnosed outside the quarantine were all individuals in the capital area within the same family.
“It is quite clear that we need to make use of the experience we have had so far in terms of operations and experience has shown that the only thing that is enough to stop the spread this is a social action,” says Þórólfur.
Þórólfur went on to say that if there is an increase in societal infections in the near future, he will surely have to propose tighter domestic measures to the Minister again.
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