99 Diagnosed With Coronavirus Yesterday

In the highest number to be diagnosed with coronavirus in a single day since April, 99 people were diagnosed with coronavirus domestically yesterday. The news was reported in Vísir and RÚV this morning. Of these 99, 59 were already quarantined.

The greatest number in a single day during the current wave had previously been 75 people on the 18th of September. The greatest number in a single day since the epidemic began was 106 on March 24th. 99 people were also diagnosed on April 1st.

According to Jóhann K. Jóhannsson, director of Civil Defence, there is now a lot of pressure on the infection control team. A meeting between the Civil Defence and the Medical Director of Health took place yesterday, with another scheduled on Thursday, though it is unclear whether it will be possible for this meeting to take place in person.

Jón Ívar Einarsson, professor at the Harvard Medical School in the United States, believes that the third wave of coronavirus in Iceland has been caused by easing domestic operations. He believes that individual domestic infection control is more important than border operations, and expressed this in Morgunblaðið this morning.

“In Iceland, only 1-2% have been infected with Covid,” he explained. “It’s a great achievement, but it also means that most people are exposed to infection.” He compared this to Stockholm and New York, where 16% and 33% of residents respectively have antibodies, limiting the spread of Covid and making the cities less liable to new waves of infection. Jón Ívar is using these figures as a comparison and does not appear to be condoning the herd immunity method. He believes that the repression approach is sensible in many ways, but that it comes with disadvantages.

Jón Ívar also expressed surprise at the lack of media coverage on the fact that the death rate has not increased, with the focus being only on number of cases.

More detailed information from covid.is/data follows.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.