COVID Roundup: All Restrictions Lifting On Friday, Latest Numbers

Minister of Health Willum Þór Þorsson has announced following a government meeting this morning that all pandemic restrictions, both domestic and at the border, will be lifted at midnight this Friday. The lifting of border restrictions will be total, and will apply to all arrivals to Iceland, whether they come from within the EEA or without.

Tired of winter? Grapevine’s Box Of Winter Darkness will keep your spirits up until spring – click here for details.

Both he and Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir emphasised that those who experience any symptoms of COVID-19 continue to isolate themselves and stay home. Those who may come into contact with vulnerable groups should continue to mask up, maintaining social distance, and sanitise their hands. Masking up is furthermore encouraged in crowded areas, but there will no longer be a requirement to wear them.

That said, Katrín and Willum did not rule out putting restrictions in place again if the situation worsens, for example if a new strain of the coronavirus appears.

The announcement follows several days in a row of there being over 2,000 daily cases of the coronavirus reported and increased workload at area hospitals and health clinics, with hundreds of Landspítali staff in isolation and now 59 people hospitalised with the virus.

In terms of daily numbers, there were 2,689 recorded domestic cases of the coronavirus in Iceland yesterday, with an additional 196 reported cases at the border. 241 are in border screening quarantine, with 12,273 in isolation. There are currently 59 people in hospital with the coronavirus and two in intensive care.

289,020 people aged five and older have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of February 23th, comprising 81% of this age group, or 78% of the total population. 202,818 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 by contacting your area health clinic. For your first and second vaccination, you can sign up here.

As always, be sure to abide the domestic restrictions and border regulations–at least, while they last.

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.