The Government of Finland has changed its travel recommendations related to the evolution of the novel coronavirus (koronavirus, as spelled in Finnish) epidemic that affects the entire world.
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL, in its Finnish acronym), reported on Wednesday that "the situation with the coronavirus epidemic has changed over the past few days and the epidemic area currently covers mainland China, Iran, South Korea and all of Italy."
More than 2,000 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in Italy by 3 March, most of which have been recorded in the northern regions of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto. The majority of the cases have been diagnosed during the past two weeks.
Due to these latest developments, the Finnish Foreign Ministry currently "recommends avoiding unnecessary travel in the Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto regions."
Finnair flights canceled
Finnish flag air carrier Finnair has also taken drastic measures to deal with the new situation and comply with government recommendations. The following adjustments to air traffic will be implemented by Finnair.
- Flights between Helsinki and Milan wil be canceled from 9 March to 7 April, following an updated travel advisory from the Finnish Foreign Ministry concerning Milan.
- The opening of its new route to Busan (South Korea) from 31 March to 1 July will be postponed.
- Daily flights to Seoul will be canceled from 9 March to 16 April.
- In April, the airline will fly to Hong Kong with one daily frequency instead of the normal two daily frequencies.
- Flights to Mainland China (Guangzhou, Nanjing, Beijing Capital, Beijing Daxing, Shanghai, Xi´an) will be canceled until 30 April.
- Two daily flights from its Osaka route will be canceled. During the summer season (29 March-24 October) the company will fly to Osaka with 10 weekly frequencies instead of the earlier 12 scheduled weekly frequencies.
