Iceland Tightens Border Control Measures Due to COVID-19 Situation

Iceland’s Minister of Health has announced the tightening of border control policies in conformity with the Chief Epidemiologist’s suggestions.

The Government announced that all persons coming from countries with a high-risk level of COVID-19 infection have to stay in quarantine for five days unless they have a certificate that shows that they have been vaccinated, and a general rule will be applied for children born in 2005 or later.

The new regulations established by the Minister of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir will start being effective on April 1, 2020, and will be valid until the end of the month, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

In a press release, the Ministry explained that the country had had only a few infections recently. However, the number of infections detected at the border has increased, reaching ten infection cases per day every so often.

A recommendation from the epidemiologists of the country expressed that most of the persons entering Iceland submitted a negative PCR test upon their arrival and were found to be negative during the first sampling at the border. Still, during the second sampling, they were diagnosed with the virus.

According to the epidemiologists, this demonstrates that many of the individuals got infected before arriving in Iceland, and that is why Coronavirus is widely spread in the neighboring countries.

Chief Epidemiologist asserted that it is likely for the virus to spread domestically due to cross-border infection. Therefore, more adequate measures should be taken.

According to the Government, the actions that will be effective from April 1 include:

• A sampling of children born in 2005 and later: all children who were born in 2005 or later must take part in the sampling procedure at the border. They are required to self-isolate only if they are traveling with their parents, guardians, or any other person that should self-isolate based on the current imposed rules. All children belonging to this age group are not required to submit a negative PCR test when entering Iceland.
• Citizens from high-risk countries should stay self-isolated: all persons that come from regions where the two-week prevalence rate of infection per 100,000 residents surpasses 500 are obligated to remain self-isolated. The same rules apply for all persons coming from countries lacking information on the prevalence of infection.

The Icelandic government also announced that the Memorandum by the Epidemiologist proposes that valid certificates regarding past infection or vaccination be taken from the European Economic Area countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Iceland has previously announced that all vaccinated persons will be allowed to enter the country without facing any border measures. They also declared that they would open the borders for the United States and the United Kingdom vaccinated citizens from March 18.