Finland reported zero deaths from coronavirus on Friday 22 May.
This is an unusual number since the pandemic began. The last time that the health authorities and the Finnish population did not have to mourn deaths caused by Covid-19 was on 6 April, more than a month and a half ago.
On Friday, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported 44 more coronavirus infections. With them, the total number of laboratory-diagnosed cases rose to 6,537. The number of deaths in Finland associated with the disease remained at 306.
The region of Helsinki-Uusimaa remains the epicenter and worst-hit area. According to official figures, to date, 4,729 cases of Covid-19 have been found in the capital metropolitan area. Of them, 2,431 have been diagnosed in the city of Helsinki.
To date, the Helsinki university hospital special catchment area (HYKS) reported 252 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 280.5 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: 118 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to THL.
In intensive care
On Friday, the official number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus nationwide was 113, this was 3 more than the day before. And the number of people in intensive care units was 21, which was 1 less than the previous day.
According to a preliminary estimate by THL, around 4,800 people may have already recovered from the disease.
To date, Finnish laboratories have taken samples from approximately 163,000 people.
