Finland corrects downward its coronavirus death toll
Finland has officially 2 fewer deaths caused by coronavirus on Monday (318, according to health authorities) than on Sunday (320). And this is true despite the fact that the National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL, in its Finnish acronym) reported a new death occurred in the past 24 hours.
According to the latest figures released by THL, the country registered 1 more fatality in the Turku + Åland hospital special catchment area (TYKS), where so far 17 people died due to the Covid-19 disease.
But while the list of deceased went up in one region, it decreased in another. On Monday, the number of deaths recorded by the Oulu hospital special catchment area (OYS) dropped by 3 compared with 24 hours before, from 15 to 12. THL warned of this statistical change on its website, but did not provide any explanation.
26 more infections
THL also reported 26 more coronavirus infections (20 of them in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region). With those contagions, the total number of laboratory-diagnosed cases of Covid-19 throughout Finland rose to 6,885.
The region of Helsinki-Uusimaa is the epicenter and worst-hit area. According to official figures, 5,021 cases of Covid-19 have been found in the capital metropolitan area. Of them, 2,614 have been diagnosed in the city of Helsinki.
To date, the Helsinki university hospital special catchment area (HYKS) reported 261 fatalities (82% of the country's total). This means four out of every five deaths caused by coronavirus have occurred in the Helsinki hospital area.
Source: THL.
Helsinki-Uusimaa is also the region showing the highest incidence of infections: there are 297.8 diagnosed cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This rate grows slightly everyday.
For the whole country, the average incidence rate is less than half that in Helsinki: 124 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to THL.
In intensive care
On Monday, the official number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus nationwide was 68. And the number of people in intensive care units dropped by 2 to 9.
According to a preliminary estimate by THL, around 5,500 people may have already recovered from the disease.
To date, Finnish laboratories have tested approximately 185,400 people.