Chief epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason has submitted new pandemic restriction recommendations to Minister of Health Willum Þór Þórsson in light of the rapidly rising cases in Iceland.
An announcement on what action the government will take is expected tomorrow.
Þórólfur expressed concerns that if the infection trend that has been seen elsewhere, such as in Denmark, ends up becoming the reality in Iceland, that we could be looking at anywhere from 700 to 800 new cases per day. Of those, there would be numerous hospitalisations added to an already strained health care system. That said, he is pinning his hopes on vaccination booster shots, which have shown evidence of being effective against the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Sadly, a new death has been reported from Landspítali hospital, with the deceased identified solely as a man about 70 years of age. This brings the death toll from the coronavirus in Iceland to 37. RÚV reports that six members of Parliament, one deputy MP and four members of parliamentary staff has also been infected.
There were 200 domestic cases of the coronavirus detected in Iceland on Saturday, 124 of which were outside quarantine at diagnosis. Yesterday, there were 220 domestic cases, plus an additional 22 at the border. Of yesterday’s domestic cases, 140 were outside quarantine at diagnosis. This marks a new daily case record.
318 are in border screening quarantine, with 2,806 in domestic quarantine and 1,817 in isolation. 11 are currently in hospital with the virus, with two in intensive care.
All this being the case, the domestic 14-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants is 568.9, and the 14-day incidence at the border per 100,000 inhabitants is 43.4.
282,962 have been vaccinated against the coronavirus as of December 17th, comprising 90% of those aged 12 and older. 148,892 have also received booster shots, while 40,763 have received an additional Jansen dose. Those who receive a second Jansen dose will also be asked to get a booster shot, and children aged five to 11 will also be vaccinated, beginning after the new year.
Getting a booster shot is a very straightforward process, with no barcode required. More information on that can be found here. For your first and second vaccination, you can sign up here.
As always, be sure to abide the domestic restrictions and border regulations.
More statistics and information can be found at covid.is or below.
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