Health Minister: Unlikely All Pandemic Restrictions Lifted As Planned

Minister of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir now believes it is considerably unlikely that the plan to lift all pandemic restrictions will go forward on November 18th, as is currently the plan, Vísir reports.

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Iceland lifted all mask requirements and raised the social gathering limit to 2,000 people on October 20th. Since then, domestic cases have been rising rapidly, putting Iceland back in the red zone on the ECDC map.

Chief epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason has stated that this plan may need to be reconsidered in light of the recent upswing in domestic cases. This will largely depend on the number of hospitalisations and how well staff are prepared to handle them.

With 76 domestic cases reported yesterday, and hospital directorship considerably worried about the state of affairs, the Minister is beginning to rethink the current plans.

“We see that the wave is rising with great strength, and it is challenging, that much is certain,” she told reporters. “It is worrisome, and I second the worries of the epidemiologist.”

While there are as yet no plans to tighten pandemic restrictions, Svandís says that this is an ongoing conversation.

“There has been continuous communication regarding plans of action,” she said. “But it shows in our results that we have always listened to our best qualified people, and made decisions in harmony with them.”