2 doctors died of coronavirus in Finland

According to a post in the discussion forum of the Finnish Medical Journal Lääkärilehti, two male doctors in Finland have died after contracting coronavirus.

Janne Aaltonen, a specialist in anaesthesiology, and Eetu Salonen, a specialist in general medicine, wrote about the two dead on the discussion board of Lääkärilehti.

This situation was first reported by Mediuutinen and doctors wrote, “For one reason or another, male doctors seem to be at particular risk. We consider it likely that the male sex is an independent risk factor for coronavirus infection. Based on current information, male doctors over 55 not to expose to the coronavirus. The fastest way to reduce exposure is through voluntary work arrangements.”

The doctors hope that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the THL will take a position on the matter as soon as possible.

So far, 177 deaths reported

On the other hand, on Friday, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL in its Finnish acronym) reported 111 new laboratory-diagnosed infections and 5 more deaths.

To date, 4,395 coronavirus cases and 177 deaths have been reported in the country.

However, these data do not reflect the whole extent of the tragedy in Finland. As in many other countries, controversy arise last week after some public authorities like the Helsinki-Uusimaa hospital district questioned the way fatalities are counted.

Until this week, THL only reported about the deaths which occurred in hospitals, ignoring dozens of fatalities recorded in Finnish nursing homes. But since last Tuesday, also deaths in the nursing homes of the capital area are added to the account. Still, remains open the possibility of lots of unreported deaths from elderly homes in other provinces.

Health authorities have made a huge effort to increase sampling (on Friday +3,500 tests were reported), but there may be lots of unreported infections in Finland, since people with mild symptoms are not generally tested. Sampling is generally limited to risk groups, mainly health care workers.

Long-term illnesses

According to THL, some details are known about 138 of the dead.

In the age groups 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59 "there are less than five deaths in each." However, exact numbers for each group are not specified.

There are also 9 deaths in the 60-69 age group, 27 in the 70-79 group, 66 in the 80-89 group and 31 people in their 90s.

52% of the dead are men and 48% are women. The median age of the dead is 84 years.

Of the deaths for whom more detailed health data are currently available, the majority (over 90%) had one or more long-term illnesses. The most common of these have been heart disease and diabetes.

Source: THL.

Helsinki-Uusimaa remains the epicenter and region hardest hit by the epidemic. According to official figures, to date, 2,947 cases of Covid-19 have been found in the capital metropolitan area. Of them, 1,642 in the city of Helsinki.

Of the 5 deaths reported on Friday, all occurred in the Helsinki metropolitan area (HYKS), where so far the vast majority of fatalities (144) have been recorded. Helsinki-Uusimaa is also the region with the highest incidence of infections: 174.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This rate has been also raising steadily since the epidemic began.

61 in intensive care units

On Friday, the official number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus was 199. And the number of people admitted to intensive care units was 61.

In relation to the total Finnish population (5,543,233), the average incidence rate is 79 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

According to a preliminary estimate by THL, there are at least 2,500 people who may have already recovered from the disease. This assessment is updated by THL in its reports twice a week.

To date, Finnish laboratories have taken samples from approximately 74,500 people.