Number of COVID-19 Cases Climbs to 109
Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason and Director of Health Alma Möller. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
At a press conference this afternoon, health authorities revealed that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Iceland has reached 109. Most of these are people who returned to Iceland after skiing in the Alps, but among the latest cases are also people who came to Iceland from the US. Local transmissions are 24.
There are 900 people in quarantine in Iceland, and two people are hospitalized due to COVID-19. Nearly 1,000 samples have been analyzed. Some of the people infected became sick a week after the disease was transmitted.
Health authorities are still focusing on the first phase of disease prevention in their approach, which includes placing people in quarantine in an effort to slow down the spread of the virus. Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason noted that at some point in time, their approach will move to the second phase, emphasizing care for the sick, instead of quarantine.
When asked at what point a ban on public gatherings would be imposed, health officials responded that this would not happen until they came to a point where the sources of infections could no longer be traced.
Director of Health Alma Möller noted that since yesterday, 180 health care workers have registered on a website, opened yesterday, for health care workers not currently employed by Landspítali, but willing to jump in, should their services be needed. They include 75 nursing assistants, 67 registered nurses, 30 physicians and eight pharmacologists. Half of them expressed interest in working on COVID-19-related assignments, while the other half chose to assist in other areas.
A representative from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs noted that 1,600 Icelanders who are traveling abroad have registered on the ministry’s website – 160 of whom are in the US. She stated that Icelanders who had booked a flight back home from the US with Icelandair will be able to return to Iceland during the travel ban imposed by the US that takes effect tomorrow at midnight, although their itinerary may change.
