The subject would allow many jokes, if there were not so many personal tragedies involved. But on Monday, Finland became the first country to reduce the number of deaths from coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish), while other countries are constantly increasing it.
The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL, in its Finnish acronym) reported on 6 April that so far 27 people have died in Finland from the disease caused by the Covid-19 virus. This is one dead patient less than reported the previous day (Sunday).
The figures provided by THL show that the number of fatalities decreased in the KYS special area of responsibility (Kuopio area) from 6 to 5.
How is error possible?
According to THL, the official reason is that "a calculation error had occurred in the declaration of one special responsibility area."
But how can there be "a calculation error" in a region that officially has only 5 coronavirus fatalities? This question remains unanswered.
"There are delays in reporting deaths," is all THL says about the issue in its website.
Source: THL.
The age is known for all the 27 dead patients. According to THL, there are two victims with ages between 40 and 59 years. Six of the deceased had between 60 and 79 years and there are 19 dead over the age of 80. Now that all ages are known, the median age of the deceased increased to 84 years (on Sunday THL said it was 81).
Of the total number of deaths, the vast majority (20) occurred in the hospital region that includes the capital area (HYKS).
2,176 infections
On Monday 6 April Finland reported 2,176 people infected with coronavirus. This means the number of cases increased by 249 compared to Sunday.
The situation is particularly complicated in the Uusimaa region (Helsinki and surrounding municipalities), where 1,362 cases have been diagnosed. This is 173 infections more than those reported on Sunday. In the capital area, the incidence of cases is also the highest across the country: 80.8 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
Olemme jälleen päivittäneet #koronavirus -tilannekatsauksen (ma 6.4. klo 15.00).
— THL (@THLorg) April 6, 2020
🔸Testattuja näytteitä: n. 32 800
🔸Varmistettuja tapauksia 2 176
🔸Uudellamaalla todettuja tapauksia 1 362
🔸Sairaalahoidossa yhteensä 228
Katso tarkemmat tiedot ⬇https://t.co/LhRKX8EJdu pic.twitter.com/395QI5Jnp5
In relation to the whole Finnish population (5,526,774), the incidence is 39 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Of the total number of patients diagnosed, Finland has 228 people hospitalized. And of these, 81 are admitted to intensive care units. This is 19 people more in hospitals and 5 more in intensive care compared to the previous day.
According to THL, Finnish laboratories took samples from some 32,800 people since the epidemic began, about 1,100 in the past 24 hours. Authorities say testing capacity will be increased to more than 4,000 samples per day "in the coming weeks."
