Greenland issues new restrictions over virus cluster

Greenland's government introduced new virus curbs on Tuesday after a cluster of COVID-19 cases were reported on the huge Arctic island which has so far only suffered few cases during the pandemic..

Starting Tuesday at 4 pm local time (1800 GMT), residents of the Danish autonomous territory will be required to wear face masks in public places, shops, taxis and on public transport, Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede told a press conference.

The move came after 13 cases were recently reported on Greenland.

"The situation is critical. We have started testing of those who have been in contact with infected and people showing symptoms. We can therefore expect more infected," Egede was quoted by online news outlet Sermitsiaq.AG.

In addition passengers would not be allowed on buses that have no free seats left, and restrictions were also introduced on the number of people in restaurants and shops.

Initially, the new restrictions will only be in place until Friday, but Egede cautioned that they could be extended.

A total of 64 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Greenland, which has some 56,000 inhabitants, since the start of the pandemic.

Several of the current cases have been traced to the same flight, which arrived from mainland Denmark on Tuesday last week.

Health authorities therefore called on all passengers from that flight to self-isolate and get tested.

© 2021 AFP