The coronavirus epidemic continues to advance in Finland and the situation "remains difficult", with the number of new cases diagnosed "at a record level," according to the latest monitoring report released by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
The latest assessment show that Finland recorded nearly 4,400 new cases of Covid-19 between 1 and 7 March, which is the highest number since the epidemic started. The situation is now particularly difficult in the Hospital Districts of Helsinki and Uusimaa and Southwest Finland. The need for hospital care has continued to increase almost throughout the country.
On 1 March 2021, the government declared a state of emergency. According to the latest report, more than 500,000 people have now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine (8.9% of those over 16 years of age), but "vaccinations do not significantly slow down the spread of the epidemic yet."
There are a few areas in Finland where the epidemic is at a stable level. During the winter holiday period, however, tourism increases the risk of the virus spreading to these areas.
Between 1 and 7 March, nearly 4,000 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, showing an increase of over 400 cases from the previous week. The incidence of new cases was 79 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the previous week it was 72.
The total number of new cases in the last two-week period was about 8,350, which was nearly 2,300 cases more than in the preceding two-week period. The incidence of new cases raised to 151 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the preceding two-week period it was 110.
The number of Covid-19 tests conducted between 1 and 7 March was almost double — over 145,000 — compared to the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. Despite the growing number of tests taken, the number of positive samples continues to increase. Between 1 and 7 March, about 3% of all tests were positive.
Most cases of domestic origin
The majority of the new cases are of domestic origin. The cases of foreign origin accounted for only 1.5% of all infections last week. People under 50 years of age accounted for about 80% of all cases and people under 30 years of age accounted for around 46%.
The need for intensive care has increased over the past few weeks, particularly in hospitals within the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. The capacity of intensive care has not, however, been threatened on the national scale. But the government says it will take a few weeks before the rise in the number of infections is reflected in an increase in the need for hospital care.
The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported on Thursday 11 March 720 new infections and 4 more deaths associated with the disease.
At the time of publishing this article, 260 patients were receiving hospital care due to the Covid-19 disease. Of them, 46 were in intensive care.
Finland has reported 64,609 coronavirus infections and 783 deaths since the epidemic started.
