Austrian Tyrol, the idyllic area where Helsinki doctors got infected
The Austrian ski region of Tyrol has been declared an epidemic area. A significant number of Finns, including 17 students from the University of Oulu, were infected there.
Austria imposed on Thursday a quarantine covering the entire Alpine ski region of Tyrol after lighter measures failed to stop coronavirus infections from spreading.
But for some people, the damage is already done. Lots of people, among them many Finns, have visited the Austrian Tyrol during their recent winter holiday. According to the Finnish broadcasting company (Yle), the doctors from the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District who had been infected had also traveled to Tyrol (western Austria).
In Finland, several cases of Covid-19 originating in Austria have been diagnosed.
The Northern Finland Hospital District said last week that 17 students from the University of Oulu had been diagnosed with the infection. They had been on a joint ski trip just in Ischgl, a ski resort village in Tyrol.
25% of all infected Austrians from Tyrol
Tyrol is an idyllic area for the practice of winter sports and relies on tourism to drive its economy. This winter season, it hosted 2.8 million visitors to its ski slopes.
The province was also the first in Austria to suffer a coronavirus outbreak and is now home to approximately a quarter of all infected Austrians.
Austria had 1,843 coronavirus cases as of Thursday morning, 437 of which were in Tyrol.
There is no accurate information on the number of Finns who visited the area during the epidemic.
The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs reports that 140 Finns made a travel notice to Austria in the past month.