With testing, Iceland claims major success against COVID-19
Source: AP
By EGILL BJARNASON
HVAMMSTANGI, Iceland (AP) Winter storms isolated the northern village of Hvammstangi from the rest of Iceland. Then spring brought the coronavirus, isolating villagers from each other. Now, as summer approaches, residents hope life is getting back to some kind of normal.
High schools, hair salons, dentists and other businesses across Iceland are reopening Monday after six weeks of lockdown, after this North Atlantic nation managed to tame its coronavirus outbreak.
Iceland has confirmed 1,799 cases of the virus, but just 10 people have died. The number of new COVID-19 cases each day has fallen from 106 at the peak of the outbreak to single digits even, on some days, zero.
I didnt expect the recovery to be this fast, said Icelands chief epidemiologist, Thorolfur Gudnason.
In this photo taken on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, people gather at a restaurant in Reykjavik after the country recorded days of zero new cases of COVID-19. High schools, dentists and hair salons are about to reopen in Iceland, which has managed to get a grip on the coronavirus through the worlds most extensive regime of testing. By identifying infected people even when they had no symptoms, the tiny North Atlantic nation managed to identify and isolate cases where many bigger countries have struggled. (AP Photo/Egill Bjarnason)
Read more: https://apnews.com/b13115dba10ad0aa4f9e1f22a3403c3b
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,047 posts)Control (not eradication, but control) of the outbreak is doable.
Cheers for Iceland too!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,912 posts)Small population and able to isolate itself completely is helpful.
BComplex
(8,073 posts)I want to be them!
iluvtennis
(19,882 posts)Politicub
(12,165 posts)The county where I live has almost 800,000 people, and were in a metro of 5.8 million. Its a lot easier to trace the movement of a whole country with a handful of people that does not border another country.
Im kind of meh about this as a success story.
Hestia
(3,818 posts)I cannot for the life of me remember which show - PBS News Weekend?
The more spread out people are, the spread slows in traveling.
Please don't come here. We've been bought up by private hedge & equity funds as it is.