MASKS OFF IN ICELAND: Icelanders Cool on COVID Panic, Lifting All Restrictions

Iceland has decided to lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions by the end of the week, including the 200-person indoor gathering limit and restricted opening hours for bars, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

“Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic,” the ministry said in a statement, citing infectious disease authorities.

“To achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness,” it added.

“Iceland, with a population of some 368,000 people, has registered between 2,100 and 2,800 daily infections recently. More than 115,000 infections have been logged throughout the epidemic and 60 have died due to COVID-19,” Reuters reports.