Two more schools have reported cases of coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish) shortly after face-to-face teaching resumed.
According to a press release published Monday by Helsinki city authorities, new cases of Covid-19 have been detected in primary schools in the Kannelmäki and Itäkeskus neighborhoods, both in Helsinki.
Itäkeskus (east Helsinki) is an area of the capital city with a large presence of immigrants. According to the city of Helsinki, in its primary school one pupil and two school staff have been placed in home quarantine for two weeks due to coronavirus exposure.
The other affected school is located in Kannelmäki (a suburb in northwest Helsinki), where 14 students and 4 school staff have also been quarantined.
With these, already three schools in the capital region (Uusimaa) reported cases of coronavirus.
Last Sunday, the authorities of the city of Porvoo (47 km west of Helsinki) also said that in one of their schools a student had been diagnosed with the virus. As a result, other 17 pupils and 4 teachers from Porvoo have also been placed in home quarantine.
Contact teaching continues
Parents of both Itäkeskus and Kannelmäki schools and school staff have been informed of the exposure to the disease.
However, authorities say contact teaching will continue at these schools for all students except those who are now quarantined, who have been requested to stay at home and avoid contact with outsiders. During the quarantine, they will have the possibility to switch back to remote learning.
Their relatives are not required to stay quarantined because they have not been in close contact with a person with a coronavirus, so they can continue to live and move normally, the city of Helsinki says.
Finnish schools resumed face-to-face teaching last Thursday, 14 May.
