Icelandic 'Fungus' Quarantine Zone

The **Icelandic 'Fungus' Quarantine Zone** refers to the now quarantined region that is located where the country of Iceland was once situated.

## Introduction

On the 6th of October, 2018, a local outbreak of an advanced strain of the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (Cordyceps fungus) was identified in a town called Vestmannaeyjabær, situated on a small island off the Southern coast of Iceland. Those who fell ill with the fungus would begin to aggressively attack individuals who were not yet infected. By the 9th of October, individuals infected with the fungus had travelled to Iceland, turning rabid and violently attacking and infecting the Southern Icelandic population.

By the 14th of October, the fungus had spread to a majority of Iceland, with 46% of the population having either been infected, or killed as a result of the outbreak.

## Local response to the situation

Because of the outbreak, the Icelandic government closed down their air and sea ports on the 13th of October, thankfully stopping the spread of the fungus. Martial law was declared on the 15th of October to combat the now growing hordes of infected roaming the country. Many cities were initially fought for, but lost in the initial weeks of the outbreak.

Iceland's only defence against the infected were local police officers and special forces operatives who were re-tasked with acting as Iceland's main military force for the time being. They would enact martial law, and would use military assets provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to carpet bomb and blockade the hordes of infected. However, by the 26th of October, most of the country had been lost to the infected hordes.

## Aftermath and Global response

On the 23rd of October, the Icelandic government had retreated into hiding with most of the acting military personnel following suit. They had fled to the North of Iceland, where special bunkers had been built years prior in the event of a natural disaster occurring. Civilian militias formed as the surviving population were left to fend for themselves. By the end of the initial outbreak, Iceland was a chaotic battleground.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) as a whole worked with NATO to enact a quarantine of the island nation, making sure that no one left or entered the country without explicit orders or permission to. The Icelandic government retained communication with the outside world until the 5th of December, when communication was lost indefinitely.

NATO instructed survivors to flee to the North so they could run a carpet bombing campaign throughout the country in order to kill a majority of the infected, with said campaign proving to be quite successful.

## Additional information

* Though the quarantine remains in place to this day, it has been confirmed that there are pockets of survivors still active in the Icelandic Quarantine Zone.
* The Icelandic Quarantine Zone has been given several names by the international community. The most popular of these names being 'Fungus', derived from the fact that the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a fungus, as well as a viral meme video originally posted in 2020 to the internet by a man who, whilst on a flight, physically pointed to the Icelandic Quarantine Zone and stated "Fungus", gaining the attention of the global community.