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Owen Tyrie

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Civil Protection

A civil defence meeting was held today to review the status of theCOVID-19 epidemic over Easter.

At the meeting was Þórólfur Guðnason, Chief Epidemiologist; Alma Möller, Director of Public Health; and Rögnvaldur Ólafson from the Civil Defence.

The meeting began with Rögnvaldur addressing the new fissure that opened in the eruption area in Geldingadalur, which is now closed, however this was not the focus of the meeting.

We’re doing well and the end is in sight

Rögnvaldur said it was remarkable that Iceland’s health care system had been successful in managing COVID-19 and that they know it has been a heavy burden on all citizens.

Þórólfur added that a considerable number of people are still being diagnosed domestically. Infections were still present in the community and it was difficult to trace infections outside the quarantine.

All domestic infections were of the British variety. A total of 64 infections had been diagnosed in the past week and 70 percent of them were quarantined.

Vaccinations on the way

Regarding vaccinations, Pfizer will be able to increase the delivery of vaccines in the coming weeks. According to the government’s vaccination plan, the aim was to vaccinate 130,000 people by the end of June, not including the Moderna, Jansen and AstraZeneca vaccines.

In order to be able to relax operations, at least 50 percent of the population must be vaccinated. New variants of COVID-19 could, however, upset plans for the removal of disease control measures.

The meeting was closed by Rögnvaldur Ólafsson of the Civil Defence who believes that we still have a few months left of the epidemic. He encouraged people to take samples and take care of personal infection control. “Let’s stay together,” he said at the end of the briefing.

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