Fréttablaðið reports that Andrés Magnússon, the managing director of the Federation of Trade and Services (SVÞ) and Jóhannes Þór Skúlason, the managing director of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association (SAF), are calling for so-called “vaccine passports” to be issued so that restrictions can be lifted further.
Vaccine passports, or vaccine IDs, are used in several countries, and Andrés admits that they are not without controversy, but nonetheless believes they are necessary.
“There are protests nearly every single day in France,” he told reporters. “But the government believes that, in the interests of society as a whole, it is justifiable to discriminate under these circumstances in order to keep society functioning.”
“It is natural to look at all the options,” Jóhannes adds. “It’s a way that’s used in many nearby countries.” He says that for his clients, for example recreational groups, hotels and restaurants that accept groups of people, it matters a great deal that social gathering and opening hours restrictions be lifted.
That said, the Icelandic government has made no indications that vaccine passports will be issued at any point in the near future.
Where daily numbers are concerned, there were 1,302 recorded domestic cases of the coronavirus in Iceland yesterday, plus an additional 88 at the border.
321 are in border screening quarantine, with 12,438 in domestic quarantine and 10,637 in isolation. There are currently 32 people in hospital and three in intensive care.
285,452 people aged 12 and older have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of January 20th, comprising 91% of this age group. 175,990 have also received booster shots.
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 information can be found at covid.is/data and, in Icelandic, below. Bear in mind that it may take some time for daily figures to be updated in languages other than Icelandic.
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