COVID-19: Lifting of all restrictions
Health Minister Willum Þór Þórsson has decided that from Friday, 25 February, all public health measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic will be lifted, both domestically and at the border. This will abolish all rules on gathering and school restrictions, as well as the requirement for those who contract COVID-19 to self-isolate. The Minister of Health announced his decision at a cabinet meeting today, which is based on the Chief Medical Officer's recommendations to the minister for the easing of restrictions.
Health Minister Willum Þór Þórsson has decided that from Friday, 25 February, all public health measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic will be lifted, both domestically and at the border. This will abolish all rules on gathering and school restrictions, as well as the requirement for those who contract COVID-19 to self-isolate. The Minister of Health announced his decision at a cabinet meeting today, which is based on the Chief Medical Officer's recommendations to the minister for the easing of restrictions. „We can certainly be glad at this milestone, but I nevertheless urge people to be careful, to observe personal hygiene and to self-isolate if they experience any symptoms.“ says the Minister of Health.
See the announcement on the website of the Cabinet Office.
The Chief Medical Officer for Public Health outlines in a memorandum to the minister how the epidemic has developed recently. Between 2,100 and 2,800 infections have been detected daily, but serious illness has not increased at the same rate. However, widespread infection has placed a great deal of strain on institutions. The number of inpatients diagnosed with COVID-19 has increased, as has the number of residents in care homes. Illness and staff absences due to COVID-19 have posed significant challenges to maintaining full operations.
According to the Chief Medical Officer, widespread community immunity against COVID-19 is the main way out of the pandemic, or up to 80%. To achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus, as the vaccines will not be sufficient, although they do provide good protection against severe illness. Around 110,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, but antibody tests suggest that a similar number of individuals have been infected without being diagnosed. Given this, the Chief Medical Officer believes that, with a similar number of daily infections to recent times, the 80% target will be met in the latter half of March. Due to the high level of infection and resulting immunity in the community, the Chief Medical Officer considers it sensible to lift public health measures both domestically and at the borders simultaneously. However, the authorities must be prepared to rapidly implement border measures if new and dangerous variants of the virus emerge abroad.
The first regulations from the Minister of Health on restrictions on gatherings and school activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced almost two years ago, coming into force on 16 March 2020. Since then, the Minister of Health has issued 166 regulations and notices on various measures concerning COVID-19.