Iceland has a population of 354,134 people across 40,000 square miles, making it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Unlike the U.S, Iceland was on top of the coronavirus situation before it became too big of an issue.

Before the end of February, Iceland implemented a contact tracing team, which shortly got the notice that the first case of Covid-19 had been confirmed. The tracing team considered anyone who spent more than 15 minutes near the man infected with the first case, to be possibly infected. Within 24 hours they had come up with a list of 56 people who were “potentially infected”, and contacted them with orders to quarantine for 14 days.

Related: Natural Coronavirus Prevention

The tracing team, too, kept growing, until it had fifty-two members. They worked in shifts out of conference rooms in a Reykjavík hotel that had closed for lack of tourists. To find people who had been exposed, team members scanned airplane manifests and security-camera footage. They tried to pinpoint who was sitting next to whom on buses and in lecture halls.

How Iceland ‘Virtually Eliminated’ Its Coronavirus Cases

Unfortunately, three cases followed the first, six more cases after that, and by mid-march, there were 60, 70, up to 100 new cases a day. Relative to the population, cases were rising at a higher rate than even here in the U.S. That being said, Iceland also tested at a higher rate per capita than other country in the world. By May 17th, 15.5% of the population had been tested. By mid-may, the tracing team was nearly out of potentially infected people to contact, and only two new cases had been reported in the previous week.

Coronavirus tests in Iceland also testing the DNA sequence of the virus from everyone who tested positive. The virus picks up random mutations as it is passed from person to person, thus allowing researchers to track the diseases spread. Researchers found, despite most of Europe focusing on Italy, the virus had come in from many different nations, Britain, the U.S, both West, and East cost, Austria, and back and forth between countries.

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An Icelandic bill recently introduced says the circumcision of young boys violates their rights. The lawmakers draw a parallel with female genital mutilation which is outlawed in most European countries. The bill says that circumcisions are performed without anesthesia, and states that the procedure is carried out “in homes that are not sterile, and not by doctors but by religious leaders. There is a high risk of infections under such conditions that may lead to death.”

This is fundamentally about not causing unnecessary harm to a child,” – Silja Dogg Gunnarsdottir, lawmaker who introduced the bill

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The proposed law calls circumcision a violation of human rights

…since boys are not able to give an informed consent of an irreversible physical intervention.”

Circumcision is not common in Iceland, Iceland is a small Atlantic Ocean island nation of 340,000 people. They are predominantly Lutheran or atheist, with an estimated 100 to 200 Jews and about 1,100 practicing Muslims according to The Tribune.

Related: Religious Reasons Not To Circumcise

The bill has eight co-sponsors. It is considered unlikely to get be voted in. The bill will not reach the majority in the 63-seat Iceland parliament it needs. It does not have the formal backing of any government ministers. But the bill has levied considerable support from 422 Icelandic doctors who want to retire the practice.

Iceland is known for progressive legislation on gender equality. In a world’s first, last month, the government made it illegal for companies to pay women less than men.

More on Circumcision:

• Religious Reasons Not To Circumcise
• 10 Circumcision Myths – Let’s Get the Facts Straight
• Circumcision, the Primal Cut – A Human Rights Violation
• Celebrities Against Circumcision
• Dying to Cut – Unnecessary Surgeries You May Want to Avoid, and Why