Number of New COVID-19 Cases on the Rise Again in Iceland

The 14-day COVID-19 incidence per 100,000 inhabitants in Iceland has been rising in recent days, and, therefore, it is clear that the current wave of the disease is not subsiding, Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason tells mbl.is. Yesterday, that figure stood at 492 (domestic and border incidence combined). The figures are updated on covid.is by 1 pm daily.

A total of 165 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Iceland Monday, 146 of them domestic ones.

Þórólfur states that many clusters of cases have been confirmed in Iceland lately. Most of those are in the capital area, although there have such clusters in many parts of the country.

He notes it is hard to know whether people are paying adequate attention to individual disease prevention methods. There have been reports of those being disregarded at bars, for example. “I don’t know whether that’s the reason [for the rising number of cases],” he states. “In any case, this continues and is hard to stop. I just hope the number of cases will not continue to rise.”

He notes that according to the data available, it seems clear that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is considerably more contagious than the Delta variant.

So far, about 40 people have been diagnosed with the Omicron variant in Iceland, none of whom have yet become seriously ill.

Morgunblaðið reports today that according to the results of the first large research on the Omicron variant, which included 78,000 such cases in South Africa, it is likely 23 percent less severe than the Delta variant. In addition, vaccines were found to give good protection against it. Five percent of Omicron patients require intensive care as a result of their illness, compared with 22 percent of Delta patients.

According to the research, the Pfizer vaccine provides 33 percent protection against an Omicron infection, but the symptoms vaccinated individuals get are much milder than those of people who are not vaccinated.