Coronavirus claimed 22 lives in Finland during Christmas holidays

The coronavirus epidemic did not cease at Christmas and continued to claim lives in Finland.

According to the latest tally from the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), there were 22 deaths associated with the disease since last Wednesday 23 December, when the previous count was released.

With these deaths, the total number of fatalities recorded in Finland since the start of the pandemic now stands at 546. Most of those deaths (380) occurred in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region, the epicenter and worst-hit area by the epidemic.

Finnish health authorities also reported 1,053 newly diagnosed cases of infection detected over the Christmas period. Specifically, 363 cases were diagnosed on Thursday 24 December; 201 on Friday 25; 173 on Saturday 26; 156 on Sunday 27 and 160 on Monday 28.

The total number of infections reported to date in Finland amounts to 35,137.

Source: THL

Intensive care

The number of people hospitalized due to the Covid-19 disease was 237 on Monday. Of them, 29 patients were admitted to intensive care units.

However, the country's incidence of new cases continues to decrease. According to THL, at the time of writing this article it was 73.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks for the whole country.

The situation varies depending on the region.

In the Helsinki-Uusimaa area, the most populated part of the country, the incidence for the preceding 14 days was 131.8 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. And in Southwest Finland (Turku region) it was even higher, 142.4 per 100,000, THL's figures show.

In contrast, in the Lapland hospital district the incidence is much lower, 23.9 cases per 100,000 residents.

Currently, the lowest incidence in Finland is in the Eastern Savonia (Itä-Savo) hospital district, whose main city is Savonlinna, where only 5 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants have been diagnosed in the past 2-week period.