Over 1,000 Tourists Entered Iceland With COVID-19 Travel Certificates Within Two First Weeks of April

As many as 4,800 tourists have entered Iceland in the first two weeks of the month, from April 1 to April 15, 1,106 of whom holding a COVID-19 travel certificate, proving that they had either been vaccinated or that they have recovered from the Coronavirus.

According to a press release of the Icelandic Ministry of Health all certificates presented by arriving passengers at the Icelandic border regarding vaccination, previous infection or antibodies seem reliable.

“From April 1, arriving passengers with such certificates have been required to take one sample to check whether they may be infected with COVID-19. During the period 1-15 April, 1,106 passengers presented certificates,” the Ministry notes.

It further explains that among all them, five people resulted positive, but upon a closer examination at Landspítali’s COVID outpatient department, it was revealed that none of them had an active infection.

Since April 6, travellers from third countries, including those from the United Kingdom and the United States, are eligible to enter Iceland for non-essential purposes if they can prove that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or that they have recently recovered from the virus.

In order for travellers from a third country to be able to enter Iceland for non-essential purposes, he/she must present one of the following documents at the port of entry:

• Certificates of vaccination with a vaccine authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which so far are the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
• Certificates of vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) WHO, which are the Comirnaty vaccine, SK Bioscience, Covishield, and Janssen-Cilag International NV.
• Certificates of previous COVID-19 infection, which can be:
  • Positive PCR-test (RT-PCR) results for SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 that is older than 14 days.
  • Presence of antibodies (IgG) against SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 measured by ELISA serologic assay

The Department of Health will be updating the list of valid vaccine certificates in order to enter Iceland, restriction-free as necessary.

Currently, the country has only 120 active cases, with a total of 6,362 cases registered since the beginning of the pandemic.

In a bid to prevent the number of cases from increasing, on April 20, the Icelandic government has decided to temporary tighten measures at the border.

As a result, from April 22 to June 30, arrivals from countries where the incidence of infection is over 1,000 new infections for 100,000 inhabitants, to isolate in a quarantine house. At the same time, the Minister of Justice has been authorized to ban unnecessary travel from these areas.

On the other hand, starting from June 1, entry ruled on those coming from low-risk countries will be facilitated.