Significant reliefs immediately and in full on 18 November

COVID-19: Substantial easing of domestic restrictions from 18 November

General gathering limits will be 2,000 people, the mask requirement will be lifted, the opening hours of restaurants will be extended by an hour, and the registration requirement for guests will be lifted. The rule on proximity limits will remain at 1 metre. These are the main points of the changes to the regulations on gathering restrictions, which will come into effect on 20 October, in accordance with a decision by the Minister of Health. The aim is to fully lift the domestic gathering restrictions from 18 November.

See the announcement on the website of the Cabinet Office. 

The Minister of Health presented planned changes at a Cabinet meeting this morning. This is based on the attached memorandum from the Director of Public Health to the Minister of Health, which outlines three options for lifting domestic public health measures, namely: the full lifting of all public health measures, a partial lifting, or maintaining the current measures.

Changes from 20 October:

• General crowd limits raised to 2,000 people from 500.
• The 1-metre social distancing rule remains, with the same exceptions as before, e.g. for seated events and services that require close contact.
• The use of rapid tests allows deviations from the gathering restrictions and the rule on social distancing.
• The mask requirement has been lifted, except for special rules in healthcare institutions.
• Registration requirement for events and restaurants lifted.
• Opening hours for premises licensed to serve alcohol have been extended by one hour, until 01:00. Premises must be cleared by 02:00.

Full lifting planned for 18 November

The aim is to fully lift all domestic restrictions on gatherings from 18 November, provided that the pandemic does not take a significant turn for the worse, such as a large increase in hospital admissions due to COVID-19 that the health service cannot cope with. Sampling, isolation, contact tracing and quarantine will continue to be applied, but these measures will be reviewed in consultation with the Director of Public Health.

Grounds for changes

In a memorandum from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health to the Government, dated 12 October 2021, the implementation of the so-called mitigation strategy and the outlook for the pandemic ahead were outlined. It stated, among other things, that the mitigation strategy, which has been pursued in this wave of the pandemic, should not be maintained for longer than a limited period unless there were serious changes in the nature of the pandemic. When all restrictions were lifted in the summer, infections increased significantly and the pressure on the healthcare system grew. Since then, the vaccination status in the country has strengthened, including the vaccination of children aged 12 to 15, booster doses for vulnerable groups, and additional doses for individuals who received the Janssen vaccine. It then became clear that the measures introduced on 25 July, with 200-person crowd limits, proximity restrictions, a mandatory mask policy and limited opening hours for restaurants, were effective in curbing the spread of infections. The slower easing of these restrictions has not yet led to an increase in hospital admissions, although the number of infections is fairly stable, as noted in the Chief Medical Officer's memorandum. A large proportion of the infections are among children, who are much less likely to require hospitalisation for COVID-19.

Under the Public Health Act, the government and public health authorities are obliged to continually seek to lift current public health measures in line with the development of the epidemic and a changing risk assessment, as immunity in the community grows. Decisions shall be based on recognised medical knowledge of infectious diseases and their epidemiology. To ensure that measures always achieve their intended outcome, and do not go beyond what is necessary, they must always be based on the most up-to-date knowledge of the infectious diseases in question at any given time. These decisions by the Minister on changes to the public health measures outlined above are based on this.

• Memorandum from the Director of Public Health to the Minister of Health, dated 18 October
• Memorandum from the Minister of Health to the Government, dated 19 October