Finnish health authorities reported Friday 812 new coronavirus infections found over the past 48 hours.
More specifically, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said 351 new infections were found on Thursday and 461 on Friday.
In addition 1 patient died in the western coastal city of Oulu, where to date 18 fatalities have been recorded.
So far, 375 deaths have been recorded in Finland in connection with the Covid-19 disease. Most of them (294) occurred in the Helsinki-Uusimaa area, which on Thursday entered the community transmission epidemic stage.
Health authorities in the capital region issued Friday new recommendations and restrictions regarding the use of face masks at workplaces and schools.
With this increase, the total number of infected people in Finland since the start of the pandemic rises to 20,747.
Source: Statistics Finland.
More patients in hospitals
On Friday, the number of people hospitalized due to Covid-19 disease increased to 104, which is 14 more than 48 hours before, when THL published its previous updated report. However, the number of patients admitted to intensive care units decreased by 2, to 10.
The country's incidence of cases increased during the last two days. According to THL, on Friday it was 58.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks. But according to the website of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), at the time of writing this article the number was 57.4 cases per 100,000 residents.
However, the situation is very different depending on the region.
In the area of the capital city and its surroundings (Helsinki-Uusimaa), the most populated region of the country, the incidence doubles the national average, 119.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the preceding 14 days, according to THL. In Länsi-Pohja, the northwestern region bordering Sweden, it was 110.3.
Most affected hospital districts
The largest number of new cases have been recorded in the hospital districts of Helsinki and Uusimaa, Southwest Finland (Turku and its surroundings), Pirkanmaa (Tampere area) and North Ostrobothnia (Oulu region).
According to THL, the number of Covid-19 tests carried out so far by Finnish laboratories is more than 1,782,200.
