{"id":14787,"date":"2021-09-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/covid-19-tilslakanir-fra-og-med-15-september\/"},"modified":"2022-09-26T15:18:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T15:18:32","slug":"covid-19-easing-from-15-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/covid-19-tilslakanir-fra-og-med-15-september\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: Easing of restrictions from 15 September"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>COVID-19: Easing of public health measures from 15 September<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Health Minister announced new relaxations to public health measures at a Cabinet meeting this morning, which are in line with the recommendations of the Chief Medical Officer. A regulation to this effect will come into force on 15 September and will remain in effect until 6 October.<\/p>\n<p>General gathering limits will be increased to 500 people, and rapid testing events will be able to host up to 1,500 people. Rapid testing events will now be able to have standing guests, provided they adhere to the 1-metre rule or wear a face covering. It will not be necessary to maintain a 1-metre distance or wear a face covering while seated at drive-in events. The rules on 1-metre distancing and the requirement to wear a face covering will otherwise remain unchanged. A special permit will also be introduced to hold entertainment events for primary and secondary school pupils without proximity restrictions or a mask requirement for up to 1,500 people.<\/p>\n<p><h4>Restaurants' opening hours will also be extended by an hour.<\/h4>\n<p>A memo from the Director of Public Health states, among other things, that since 30 July, when the current wave peaked, the epidemic has been on a steady decline, and in recent days, few people have needed to be admitted to hospital. Thus, the situation at the National University Hospital regarding COVID-19 is not as severe now as it was earlier in this wave. The reasons for the improving situation are many, the main ones being that domestic restrictions have been observed, contact tracing has been applied, quarantine and isolation as before, border screening has been tightened, and in addition, the vaccination of children and adolescents has gone well, and vulnerable groups have received a third dose of the vaccine. A memorandum from the Director of Public Health also states that in light of the experience gained at the end of June 2021 from the lifting of all domestic restrictions, he believes it is right to proceed cautiously with any forthcoming easing of measures.<\/p>\n<h4>Changes to the gathering restrictions from 15 September to 6 October:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>General mass gathering restrictions will be 500 people. Children born in 2006 and later will now be exempt from the gathering restrictions and will therefore not count towards the maximum number.<\/li>\n<li>The maximum number at speed test events will be 1,500 people.<\/li>\n<li>Speed-testing events can be held standing, with the 1-metre rule (masks must be worn if the 1-metre distance is not maintained). If they are held seated, the 1-metre rule does not apply and masks do not need to be worn.<\/li>\n<li>It will still be mandatory to keep a register of visitors, but not to assign seats.<\/li>\n<li>Social distancing will generally remain at 1 metre, except at seated events and school functions.<\/li>\n<li>The mask requirement will remain largely unchanged, i.e. a mask must be worn indoors when it is not possible to maintain a 1-metre distance.<\/li>\n<li>Restaurants with a licence to serve alcohol may stay open for an hour longer, until 00:00, and the premises must be cleared by 01:00.<\/li>\n<li>Primary and secondary schools will be permitted to hold events for pupils for up to 1,500 guests, provided they present a negative rapid test that is no older than 48 hours. Social distancing and mask-wearing requirements will not be enforced, but attendees will be required to be registered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/p>\n<h4>Increased access to rapid tests<\/h4>\n<p>The Health Minister also presented plans to the Cabinet to make Covid-19 rapid tests even more accessible, with the aim of offering them in more locations than is currently the case. To achieve this goal quickly, the plan is to start subsidising rapid tests taken at private facilities at the same rate as those taken at the Capital Area Health Service and other public health institutions. Private providers will also be given access to the Public Health Director's certification system, enabling them to issue the same standardised certificates following a test. It is therefore intended that a regulation on this matter will be published in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stjornarradid.is\/library\/04-Raduneytin\/Heilbrigdisraduneytid\/ymsar-skrar\/Minnisblad-innanlands-12092021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Memorandum from the Chief Medical Officer<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stjornarradid.is\/library\/04-Raduneytin\/Heilbrigdisraduneytid\/ymsar-skrar\/Regluger%c3%b0%20um%20takmo%cc%88rkun%20a%cc%81%20samkomum%20vegna%20farso%cc%81ttar.%2014.%20sept.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New regulations on limiting gatherings due to the pandemic<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COVID-19: Tilslakanir \u00e1 s\u00f3ttvarnar\u00e1\u00f0st\u00f6funum fr\u00e1 og me\u00f0 15. september Heilbrig\u00f0isr\u00e1\u00f0herra kynnti n\u00fdjar tilslakanir \u00e1 s\u00f3ttvarnarr\u00e1\u00f0st\u00f6funum \u00e1 fundi r\u00edkisstj\u00f3rnar \u00ed morgun, en \u00fe\u00e6r eru \u00ed samr\u00e6mi vi\u00f0 till\u00f6gur s\u00f3ttvarnarl\u00e6knis. Regluger\u00f0 \u00feessa efnis tekur gildi 15. september og gildir til 6. okt\u00f3ber. Almennar fj\u00f6ldatakmarkanir ver\u00f0a auknar \u00ed 500 manns og \u00e1 hra\u00f0pr\u00f3fsvi\u00f0bur\u00f0um ver\u00f0ur unnt a\u00f0 hafa allt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-frettir"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14787"}],"curies":[{"name":"WordPress","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}