926 coronavirus infections in Finnish schools during fall and winter

The coronavirus was also transmitted in schools and kindergartens in Finland last fall and winter, despite the messages circulated at the time by the authorities insisting that education centers were a safe environment in the midst of the pandemic.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) released on Thursday the data on coronavirus exposures and infections in nurseries and schools collected since the beginning of the autumn term. And the results show a high number of exposures and nearly a thousand diagnosed cases of the Covid-19 disease.

According to THL's figures, approximately 62,600 children, adolescents or staff members were exposed to Covid-19 at different grades between August and February. Among all exposed persons, a total of 926 infections were diagnosed, representing 1.5% of all exposed persons.

New variants

After Christmas, as the incidence of the epidemic has gotten more severe, exposure situations have increased nationwide. The number of people who were tested at the beginning of the year due to being exposed has also been significantly higher to prevent the spread of the virus variants.

"In spite of this, further infections related to early childhood education and care and the school environment have been detected in only a small proportion of those exposed. The risk of infection after exposure in school continues to be significantly lower than the risk of infection in other situations involving exposure," THL says.

The figures provided include pupils, students and staff. Asymptomatic infections diagnosed in the screenings have been included in the statistics.