On Thursday, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported 51 more coronavirus infections (38 of them in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region). With those contagions, the total number of laboratory-diagnosed cases of Covid-19 throughout the country rose to 6,743.
The health agency also reported that there were no new coronavirus related deaths, so the country's death toll remained unchanged at 313.
The region of Helsinki-Uusimaa is the epicenter and worst-hit area. According to official figures, to date, 4,900 cases of Covid-19 have been found in the capital metropolitan area. Of them, 2,529 have been diagnosed in the city of Helsinki.
To date, the Helsinki university hospital special catchment area (HYKS) reported 257 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 290.6 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: 122 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to THL.
In intensive care
On Thursday, the official number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus nationwide dropped by 4 to 83 from the day before. And the number of people in intensive care units remained stable at 11.
According to a preliminary estimate by THL, around 5,500 people may have already recovered from the disease.
To date, Finnish laboratories have taken samples from approximately 176,600 people.
