In the past few weeks, the COVID-19 epidemic has worsened almost everywhere in Finland, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Because the situation varies from region to region, the recommendations and restrictions may also vary.
In an attempt to make the population aware of the seriousness of the situation, the Finnish government has agreed with Finnish mobile network operators and the Emergency Response Centre Agency that the operators will send a Covid-19 alert from the Ministry to their subscribers via text message.
The operators will start sending the messages on Wednesday 2 December. They will receive the assignment before noon and the service will start soon after that. The messages will be sent in stages so people may receive them at different times.
The text message urges people to follow the recommendations and restrictions in place in order to stop the spread of the disease. The message reads: “MSAH Epidemic alert:COVID-19 is worsening in Finland. Protect yourself & others. Please follow regional recommendations & restrictions. Read more thl.fi/regions”.
The link provided by the text message leads to a webpage in English of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), where users can consult the epidemiological situation in the different regions, as well as the recommendations for each hospital district. THL has compiled the addresses of 21 hospital districts on one page.
However, many users of foreign origin will encounter the problem that, even though the main page is in English, at the time of writing this article, the specific information of each hospital district appears only in Finnish language in most cases. Only 5 hospital districts offer information in English.
Text message in English
However, the Ministry will send its SMS alert in the official languages of Finland (Finnish, Swedish, North Saami) and also in English. The text message is one of the measures used by the government to convey information about the worsening Covid-19 situation.
"The aim of the recommendations and restrictions is to prevent the spread of COVID-19, safeguard the resource capacity of the healthcare system and shield and protect people, especially those in risk groups," the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said in a press release.
