Iceland’s health minister has announced that social distancing will be scrapped and that locals will be able to be move mask-free from this weekend, as the country ditches the last of its domestic Covid-19 curbs.

Unveiling the plans to lift the domestic Covid restrictions, Minister Svandís Svavarsdóttir told a press conference on Friday that the total relaxation of measures would start from midnight. ‘We are restoring the society we are used to living in and which we have longed for.’

From Saturday, people in Iceland can expect the removal of restrictions including the two-meter distancing rule and the wearing of masks. There will also be no limits on the number of people allowed to attend public gatherings. The removal of these measures means that Iceland will most likely be the first European country to fully ditch Covid measures, the health minister indicated.

Whilst the domestic measures are set for a total relaxation, Iceland is still taking precautions to reduce the risk of more Covid-19 infections crossing its borders.

Incoming visitors must undergo two Covid tests, one on arrival and the second five days later while still in quarantine. Alternatively, they can skip the double testing regime if they undergo a 14-day quarantine period.

Iceland has recorded a very low number of Covid cases since the outbreak of the pandemic, reporting 6,637 confirmed infections and only 30 alleged deaths. The country underwent a series of lockdowns during the pandemic to curb rising infections, and relied on test and tracing systems to limit the spread.

As of Friday, the government has invited all Icelanders eligible for vaccination to get inoculated. Over 70% of the people living in Iceland have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine and almost half are fully vaccinated, according to data from Iceland Review.

Denmark announced on Friday that it will continue to suspend its use of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines, citing possible harmful effects which are too much of a concern compared to the benefits.

The Danish Health Authority declared in a statement that the ’balance between possible benefit and possible harmful effects is still not favourable’ with the two vaccines, ’even when we include assumptions in our analyses that are in favour of the vaccine.’

It went on to say that based on US and EU data, along with other health authority assessments, the Danish Health Authority can say with certainty that both the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, name changed to Vaxzevria and Janssen respectively, cause VITT syndrome, or thrombotic thrombocytopenia.

Based on available data, there is no evidence that there is a gender difference in relation to the risk of VITT, but it must generally be assumed that the risk is greater in younger people than in older people,’ the Health Authority continued, before concluding that those who still choose to get vaccinated with either of the two vaccines should be informed that they’re not generally recommended by the National Board of Health.

In April, Denmark became the first European country to permanently suspend its use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a number of cases of ’unusual blood clots, bleeding,’ and ’low blood platelets counts’ in those who had received the jabs.

In London UK, coroners will probe whether BBC presenter Lisa Shaw died as a result of being inoculated with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. Shaw’s family say she was treated for blood clots shortly after her first dose.

Shaw passed away on Friday, with her family affirming she developed severe headaches a week after receiving her AstraZeneca vaccine and fell seriously ill a few days later. According to her family’s statement, Shaw was treated by the RVI’s [Royal Victoria Infirmary] intensive care team for blood clots and bleeding in her head before she died.

Shaw was just 44 years old and had no underlying health conditions. While a cause of death has yet to be established, a coroner’s interim certificate, lists ‘complication of AstraZeneca Covid-19 virus vaccination’ as a factor to be investigated.

The presenter’s death is not the first linked to the AstraZeneca jab that the political cults in a conflict of interest heavily invested in. The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has catalogued more than 676,000 adverse reactions to the vaccine, ranging in severity from the mildly uncomfortable to the life-threatening. Some 806 recipients have died after reporting a reaction, but the MHRA cautions that many of these recipients may have died of old age or other causes.

The blood clots linked to the vaccine, known as cerebral venous sinus thromboses, have affected 332 people and killed 58 in the UK, according to analysis by the BBC.

As the first reports of these rare blood clots surfaced earlier this year, more than a dozen European countries suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Denmark went a step further in April and permanently dropped the vaccine. In the UK, people under 40 are being advised to avail themselves of another vaccine instead, but the MHRA insists the benefits of the controversial shot outweigh the risks. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Source 1, Source 2, Source 3.