At the end of December 2019, reports of severe lung infections came from the city of Wuhan, China.
Subsequently, it was confirmed that an unknown coronary virus variant was the cause, now called COVID-19. It is now confirmed that the virus is transmitted between humans and can cause serious illness.
The outbrake of COVID – 19 has been spreading rapidly. In the beginning most of the confirmed cases were in China, but gradually it has spread to other countries in the world. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) carry out risk assessments on a daily basis and disseminate findings to health authorities on communicable diseases. Numerous infections have been confirmed in Iceland.
The Directorate of health/The Chief Epidemiologist and the Civil Protection Department of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police are responsible for the organisation of education, training and dissemination of information about the Coronavirus and have held daily briefings through out the pandemic. Contingeny plans were activated on January 27th 2020 to deal with the COVID-19 disease both on national and local levels.
More information on the COVID-19 response in Iceland can be found on the website www.covid.is/english
Status Reports for the Coronavirus – COVID-19 outbreak, from the National Crisis and Coordination Centre:
14052020 Status Report: Coronavirus-COVID-19
04052020 Status Report: Coronavirus-COVID-19