Alarming Number of New COVID-19 Cases
Photo/Þorkell Þorkelsson
A total of 17 new domestic cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Iceland yesterday, according to covid.is .
This a sharp increase from the previous days and the largest number of new domestic cases since November 30. Three of the people diagnosed were not in quarantine. The 14-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants has risen to 20.1.
A press conference scheduled by health authorities at 11 am was canceled on short notice, mbl.is reports.
Representatives from the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management and from the Directorate of Health are evaluating the situation at meetings this morning, and the Icelandic Government will be meeting this afternoon to discuss the suggestions of Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason regarding how to respond to these developments. A press conference will likely follow that meeting.
Laugarnesskóli grade school. Photo/The City of Reykjavík
Hjördís Guðmundsdóttir, media representative for the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management states that the situation is not favorable. “Of course the figures are not the way we’d like them to be,” she states. “This is not an ideal situation. That’s why there have been non-stop meetings.”
Three domestic cases outside quarantine were confirmed last weekend, causing worry among health officials. It appears that the source of some of the recent infections remains unknown .
Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason has stated that stricter disease prevention measures will possibly be adopted if the number of cases continues to rise.
Among the new confirmed cases are at least 11 students and a teacher at Laugarnesskóli grade school, Reykjavík. All students at the school, as well as all students at the nearby Laugalækjarskóli, have been placed in quarantine temporarily while the tracing team continues attempting to trace the source of the infection.
The same is true for everyone who trains with the men’s fifth division of Þróttur soccer club.
Kári Stefánsson, CEO of deCode Genetics, has expressed great worry about the situation and called for stricter disease prevention measures.
