Beating the virus is “a massive achievement”

Sticking to the same strategy of strict and comprehensive case isolation and contact tracing has been the key to wiping out the coronavirus from the Faroe Islands.

So says consultant doctor Bjarni á Steig, who is the medical adviser to the Ministry of Health, after it was announced yesterday that all 187 corona positive people have now recovered.

“The result of sticking to our strategy has been that those who tested positive were predominantly people in risk groups, which made our quarantine measures easier to control,” he says.

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“This is a massive achievement, and we have already received countless congratulatory messages from abroad.”

He admits that a certain degree of pessimism emerged within the health authorities when the outbreak peaked in mid-March, and it was believed that it would take much longer to eliminate the virus.

The Faroese strategy has placed a strong focus on suppression, with world record high test numbers relative to the population as a means of suppressing the virus entirely by seeking to catch cases early and trace all contacts.

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“We decided to stick to this strategy despite a sudden spike in new cases in March. This consistency has been key in our efforts to beat this virus because there was never any significant degree of domestic infection; it all came from people who came from abroad.”

The authorities will now adapt the quarantine strategy to the new situation by redirecting the focus from within the society to the border controls.

“Restrictions regarding mass events will still apply for a while as this is where the risk continues to exist, especially for instance if foreign musicians are brought in to play at our music festivals.”

Translated by prosa.fo