Iceland in the time of Covid19

With the global epidemic that has had a foothold in most countries, devastating most populations, Iceland has of course been greatly affected by it. What seems to set the country apart from most though, is its ability to handle the spread, and find the best way to contain it.

Through the years Iceland has been a favorite destination of filmmakers, with the awe-inspiring landscape and its extreme contrasts, a few of the projects shot in the country include “Game of Thrones”, “The secret life of Walter Mitty”, “Die another day”, Star Wars, “Prometheus” and many more.

Vidir Reynisson, Head of the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, has been doing daily press meetings with the public in Iceland to keep them informed of the situation, and on Tuesday he said that he was open to allowing foreign filmmakers into the country this summer to shoot their projects. The news story, from the Icelandic Government news channel, is translated here below :

Vidir Reynisson, says it is a great possibility that foreign filmmakers will be allowed to enter the country this summer do work on their projects here. Anything that can be set within the state of the keeping the infection at bay is a possibility.„We have been looking at this from many angles and it does not matter what the job is.“ Vidir named for instance that fish breeding plants have been getting experts into the country. It all has to do with the precautions set.He said that the head of epidemiology has gone to work on examining how certain fields can be re-started. And it will be interesting to see the outcome from that.The national news agency announced yesterday that the head of epidemiology had received a query last week about a possible meeting on how the country could open up for foreign filmmakers that wish to work here. Among the suggested has been testing the crew for Covid-19 and that they will be requested to keep to certain areas. The film staff would rent smaller hotels that would only serve them and enter the counrty by hired planes.Einar Hansen Tomasson at “Film in Iceland” said speaking to the news yesterday that they were waiting for a response from the government. “We want to know if this is completely foolish or not. It all begins with a conversation.”Foreign film companies have shown interest in Iceland after the streaming site Netflix announced that they had projects going in two countries, Iceland and South Korea. The reason for that was that these two countries had been at the front of testing for the virus and tracing the contagion.

Iceland’s Prime minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, has also been vocal about Iceland gaining control over the epidemic, as she said in an interview with France 24 .