July 2020[3]– 26 Feb 2021;[4] The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark, in March 2020.
[6][12] The number of tests is amounting to 14 times the country's population, which as of 1 September 2021, had reached 53,498 according to Statistics Faroe Islands (Hagstova Føroya).
These cases were all related to the same person and spread on the national holiday ólavsøka, which was celebrated on 28 and 29 July, and during the days after, mainly at private parties, according to the Chief Medical Officer.
The Faroe Islands, like Iceland, is seen as an exception due to its large testing capacity relative to its population size; a miniature laboratory with lessons on how to handle the disease.
On 4 March 2020, the Faroe Islands had its first confirmed case, a man who on 24 February[30] returned home from a conference in Paris, France.
[33] There was much news coverage on the field trips of 300 students and teachers to France, because Glasir (Tórshavn College) decided to cancel the trip because of the COVID-19 outbreak, especially after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark had changed France from a green area to a yellow area, meaning that the recommendation went from "Be attentive" to "Be extra cautious.
[49] The biggest banks in the Faroe Islands, Betri banki and BankNordik announced that they would grant private and commercial clients respite for 6 months.
[60] Magn and Effo announced that they would close all gas station shops on Thursday 19 March in order to limit the spread of the virus.
[69] On a press conference held on 20 March it was announced that all the changes the government had previously implemented for two weeks would last until 13 April, which was Easter Monday.
[75] The national broadcasting showed a collage video of people singing together safely from individual homes as a way of keeping up spirits.
[96] Faroese authorities had urged the ship's captain to return to Russia immediately due to the possibility of some of the infected sailors needing urgent treatment, but instead the trawler was heading for further fishing in NEAFC (North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission) waters northeast of the Faroe Islands.
[97] On 28 July all 23 crew members from the Lithuanian cargo ship Cassiopea, which was docked next to the Russian trawler Karelia in Klaksvík were tested, and six of them got a positive result.
This means that a total of 11 crew members from Cassiopea have tested positive, and that the Faroe Islands on that day had 37 active cases registered.
Instead the ship went fishing in international waters north of the Faroe Islands after a short stop in Fuglafjørður for oil bunkering.
[114] 31 of the 54 active cases were foreigners; 29 were Russian sailors[20] and two were members of the delegation from the Slovakian football team ŠK Slovan Bratislava, which tested positive after arriving in the Faroe Islands ahead of their UEFA Champions League first qualifying round match against KÍ Klaksvík scheduled for 19 August 2020.
[128] On 23 October it was decided that the period for quarantine and self-isolation when people travelled to the Faroe Islands should be reduced from 14 to ten days.
But because of the situation in the other neighbor countries, especially Denmark with the new mink-associated variant strain, they had new recommendations to prevent the coronavirus to spread again.
[22][136] It was expected that in December the numbers of COVID-19 positive cases would rise in the Faroe Islands because many young Faroese study abroad, especially in Denmark, and many of them would travel back home for the holidays, and in Denmark the numbers of positive cases was quite high in late November and early December.
At a press conference the prime minister Bárður á Steig Nielsen said: "We have good reason to do so, because we have learned to live with the threat and because we have been quick to adapt.
[150] As of 1 April 2021 people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at least eight days prior and can prove it, are not required to self-isolate after arrival in the Faroe Islands.
[citation needed] As of 9 April 2021 all non-vaccinated visitors should self-isolate until a negative test on the fourth day after arrival, this applies at least until 30 June 2021 until further notice.
It was announced that nine students from Glasir (a high school in Tórshavn) from three classes of the department of electronics were among the persons who tested positive for COVID-19.
On 8 July when the number of people with COVID-19 was as high as 48[167] the prime minister promised that the music festivals would get economic compensation if they cancelled.
[6] As of 1 September 2021 the Faroese government had decided to end the mandatory tests at the border, that is at Vágar Airport and before entering the ferry Norrøna in Denmark or Iceland.
[6] In mid October the daily number of cases of COVID-19 exploded and the Chief Medical Officer Lars Fodgaard Møller said that they had lost control with the spread of the virus.
The two events were held in a Christian place named Zarepta in Vatnsoyrar (Plymouth Brethren), where around 400 teenagers (14-17 year old) and staff from all around the islands gathered.
[175] In the Northern Islands only 17% of the children in this age group have received the first of two jabs of the vaccine and 24% in Eysturoy and 39% in the Tórshavn area (Suðurstreymoy).
One of the guests was the Faroese foreign minister, Jenis av Rana, who several months earlier had admitted that he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
[179] On 4 November the Faroese government held a press conference where the prime minister, Bárður á Steig Nielsen, informed about new COVID-19 restrictions.
[185] In July and August 2020 three foreign vessels which embarked in the Faroe Islands had crew members which tested positive for COVID-19.