Iceland has tested 10% of its population: between 0.3% and 0.8% have Coronavirus

Iceland has tested 10% of its population, more than any other country. Between 0.3% and 0.8% of Iceland’s population is infected with the Coronavirus and half of those who tested positive were asymptomatic as the time of their tests.

Since mid-March, among people not of advanced age or with pre-existing serious health conditions, the prevalence of the virus has stayed stable or decreased. This without a national lockdown, though Iceland has banned gatherings of more than 20 people. This strongly suggests that the disease is not going to multiply like exponentially and kill huge numbers and that lockdowns are overreactions. As of yesterday, Iceland had 1,600 Coronavirus infections and 6 deaths. They permit flights so that Icelanders can return home and tourists leave. In the future, when things become easier, I imagine they will have to be very careful not to allow foreigners with the virus to come to the island.

Elsewhere, in America and Germany, the virus seems to be much more widespread. In the district in North Rhine-Westphalia, interim results for the community of Gangelt show that probably 15% of the population there has already been through an infection with the virus and is now immune. The figure had previously been estimated at only 5%.