Iceland has received an intense scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic, complete with extensive display and in-depth sequence. The fight against the virus is still going on, but their approach seems to have borne much fruit.
On 18 January at 14:00 GMT, Iceland had 5970 confirmed infections, including 53 admissions to the intensive care units and 29 deaths, according to government data.
However, their insights into the outbreak go much deeper. AFP reports that they have succeeded in sequencing the genetic material of each positive virus infection using deCODE genetics, a biotech company in Reykjavík. From the beginning, the country apparently invites healthy people to people who are being tested in an effort to better understand asymptotic carriers and transmission. As a result, they display more than 250,000 specimens, accounting for more than half of the island’s total population.
The wealth of data also helped to clearly guide the government’s response to the outbreak. When the number of COVID-19 cases increased significantly in mid-September 2020, the authorities managed to do so. trace the outbreak back to a single Irish bar in the capital Reykjavík. In response, all bars and pubs were closed for a short time across Reykjavík and other surrounding communities.
The screening of Iceland picked up 41 carriers of the ‘British variant’, or VOC 202012/01, a recent variant of the virus linked to a significant increase in the rate of COVID-19 infections in the UK . Fortunately, thanks to their PCR testing at their airports, the cases were immediately identified at the border and stopped before they could be introduced to their population.
Other countries have dealt with the pandemic more effectivelymuch with respect to the number of deaths and hospitalizations. An outstanding example is New Zealand, which has shown just 25 deaths out of their 5 million population. In fact, the total death rates in the country in 2020 were lower than in previous years. However, Iceland has the advantage of having a relatively small and genetically homogeneous population. Together with productive tests, it has created an in-depth case study on how COVID-19 can spread across a population.
“In an effort to accurately map the molecular epidemiology of COVID-19 in Iceland, we hope to provide worldwide information for use in the collective global effort to curb the spread of the disease,” Kari said. Stefansson, CEO of deCODE genetics, said in a statement in June 2020.
Preliminary data from Iceland indicate that approx. half of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the country showed no symptoms – an insight made possible only because they tested people who were symptom-free and apparently not infected. More findings are in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in June 2020, indicating that children younger than 10 years and women have a lower incidence of infection than adolescents or adults and men. Another Icelandic study in the NEJM showed promising that antibodies against SARS-CoV2 do not decrease within four months after infection.
Iceland now appears to have the outbreak relatively under control, although it has not been completely destroyed. As of mid-January 2021, the country currently has approximately 16 infections per 100,000 population, 19 people hospitalized with COVID-19, and no patients in intensive care.