Extensive micro-infection in Iceland – emergency hospital

In Iceland, which has so far survived relatively moderately during the epidemic, the COVID-19 virus has increased dramatically recently. It is most prevalent in adults between the ages of 20 and 29.

More than 13,000 people, equivalent to 3.5 percent of the country’s population, are in quarantine, and the number of new coronavirus cases has nearly doubled in just one month. Of these, it is estimated that about 90 percent is made up of the new omicron variant.

Read more: A positive airline passenger self-isolates on the toilet

Nursing staff are called from quarantine

The number of admissions to the hospital is currently only 21 people, but due to the fact that large parts of the care staff have become infected, the Landspitales University Hospital was forced to declare a state of emergency.

– Many healthcare workers are now quarantined after being exposed to the virus, but hospitals have had to start calling staff who should be in quarantine, says Goran Svanborg Hoeksdottir, chief physician in the hospital’s department of microbiology and virology, to Hufvudstadsbladet.

In addition, hospitals are also experiencing a severe shortage of places.

Hospitals were crowded even before the outbreak of the epidemic. Guðrún Svanborg Hauksdóttir tells the newspaper that it is a very difficult situation at the moment, both places and an incredible number of staff are needed.

Read more: The increasing prevalence of infection in Denmark – now the highest in the world