In Finland, the intensity of the coronavirus epidemic has continued to slow down in the past two weeks, the government said in an assessment published on Thursday 4 June.
The weekly average of cases reported to the communicable diseases register has decreased clearly from that reported two weeks ago, but it is about the same as last week, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said in a press release.
Now the estimated basic reproduction number is 0.75–0.80. "This means that in Finland the trend in the coronavirus epidemic has been decreasing for quite some time," the Ministry emphasizes.
During the last period (25–31 May 2020) no new cases were reported in eight hospital districts. The number of patients hospitalised due to the disease has also decreased considerably from the situation two weeks ago.
To date, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported 6,911 infections and 322 deaths (one in the last 24 hours).
Intensive care capacity not exceeded
Government says that in the catchment areas for highly specialised medical care of the university hospitals, the healthcare situation is "quite calm" and the intensive care capacity "was not exceeded at any point."
Of all hospitalised patients, almost 80% have been in hospitals within the catchment area for highly specialised medical care of the Helsinki University Central Hospital.
At present, the coronavirus testing capacity of laboratories is more than 13,000 samples per day. During the period 25-31 May the number of people tested for coronavirus was smaller than in the previous weeks.
The aim for Finland is to test all cases where the acute phase of the coronavirus infection is suspected. This means that the threshold for taking the test and for people to have themselves tested should be low, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health stressed.
In Finland an estimated 5,800 people have recovered from the Covid-19 disease.
