The government of Iceland announced last week that it will give
arriving passengers the option to be tested for coronavirus twice in order to
shorten the mandatory quarantine period.
From Wednesday, 19 August, all arrivals will be given two
options: the normal 14-day quarantine without undergoing any tests or the
double testing option with a self-isolation period of five or six days. For the
latter choice, passengers will be tested for Covid-19 on arrival and required
to go into self-isolation, with another test done at five or six days after
arrival. If both tests come back negative, the traveller will be allowed to
leave quarantine. Those who test positive in either instance will have to
self-isolate for the recommended length of time.
All passengers will be required to pre-register with their
choice prior to arrival and those caught breaking the quarantine rules will
face enforcement action.
Children aged 15 and under will be exempt from the double screening
procedure.
Iceland said two new coronavirus infection clusters have
been identified since 23 July. The government said one was contained “almost immediately”,
while the infection rate of the other “has slowed down significantly”. The
country’s current rate of infection is 21 per 100,000 inhabitants, down from 27
a week ago, according to the government.
Icelandic prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said: “Given
the uptick in infections worldwide and the widespread effect that a small
infection can have on the functioning of our society, the government has decided
to strengthen our border screening measures to further limit the number of
infections entering the country. These measures will be reviewed and revised
according to how the situation develops, both domestically and internationally.”
Chief epidemiologist Thorolfur Gudnason added: “We will
continue to monitor the trends in Europe and elsewhere very closely and adjust
our recommendations accordingly, both as regards to border measures and
preventative social measures. Unfortunately, the pandemic is on the rise again
in Europe, but we are yet to see how severe the impact of this second outbreak
will be now that we have much better information and improved treatment options
to combat the pandemic.”
The announcement has prompted calls for the UK government to
consider a similar approach to its quarantine measures. It has emerged in official
meeting notes that Sage, the government’s scientific advisers, suggested the
double-test method back in June as a way to reduce the quarantine requirement
from 14 to 10 days.
The travel industry has been lobbying for a change to the
way quarantine is handled in the UK after restrictions were re-imposed for
Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and the Netherlands at short notice, leaving
Brits already abroad scrambling to arrange travel home before the rules
changed. There are fears Croatia could be the next country to be removed from
the travel corridors list due to a recent rise in infections above the
government’s preferred rate of 20 in 100,000 people over seven days.