COVID-19: Domestic restrictions extended until 20 October
The Minister of Health has agreed to the Chief Medical Officer's recommendation to extend the current domestic public health measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The relevant ministerial regulation has been sent to the Official Gazette for publication and will be in force until 20 October.
The Minister of Health has agreed to the Chief Medical Officer's recommendation to extend the current domestic public health measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The relevant ministerial regulation has been sent to the Official Gazette for publication and will be in force until 20 October.
See the announcement on the website of the Cabinet Office.
A memorandum from the Director of Public Health to the Minister of Health traces the development of the epidemic since all public health measures in the country were lifted on 26 June, and testing for passengers at the border was relaxed. The Chief Medical Officer points out that these relaxations were made in light of the fact that domestic transmission was rare and around 70% of the population were fully vaccinated. Two to three weeks after the lifting of public health measures, domestic infections began to increase, admissions to Landspítali increased, and serious illness rose. In this wave, infections and serious illness were more common than before among unvaccinated children, and two seriously ill children were admitted to hospital.
As the Chief Medical Officer noted, domestic and border measures were tightened following an increase in infections, and the number has since decreased to around 20-60 per day, varying according to the daily number of tests conducted. He refers to various relaxations in other countries, noting that their impact on the spread of the virus has varied. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) also predict increased spread at the start of winter and have urged nations to continue with necessary public health measures, including mass restrictions, social distancing rules and the use of face masks at specified events. „In light of the development of the epidemic abroad and the experience at home with the full lifting of restrictions, I consider it prudent not to relax domestic public health measures more than those currently in force,“ says the memo from the Chief Medical Officer.
As set out in the attached memorandum from the Director of Public Health, he proposes that the existing domestic restrictions be extended for at least one month. The Minister agrees to the extension but believes it should be reviewed after a fortnight.