Number of coronavirus cases increases again in Finland

The number of coronavirus cases is on the rise again Finland, after several weeks of stability.

According to the assessment published on Thursday by the Finnish health authorities, the figures show again "a clear upward trend in the number" of infections, with "new cases reported in large numbers" in several hospital districts across the country, following a long period of relative stagnation.

On Thursday 28 January, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported 423 new infections and 4 deaths. Since the pandemic started, a total of 44,039 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in the country and the disease caused 664 deaths.

New variants

Finnish health authorities are particularly concerned about the spread of the new virus strains detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil. Since 14 December 2020, a total of 106 cases of the new variants have been confirmed in Finland.

The increase in the number of cases is very visible when observing the data of weekly infections. Between 18 and 24 January, a total of 2,315 new Covid-19 cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, showing an increase of 568 cases from the previous week.

Similarly, the incidence of new cases was 42 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the previous week it was 32. More than 10,000 people have been quarantined during this period.

The total number of new cases in the last two-week period was 4,062, which was 486 more than in the preceding 14-day period. The incidence of new cases was 73 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the preceding two-week period it was 65.

The majority of the new cases were of domestic origin. Cases where the virus was contracted abroad accounted for 6%.

More than half of the infections in Helsinki

Slightly more than half of the new cases were reported in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. 

In Finland as a whole, the source of infection was traced in over 60% of all new cases. Most of the new cases are still found in younger age groups and in working-age adults. But authorities warned that "the more the virus spreads in the population, the greater the risk of older people contracting it."

As the number of infections has increased, the number of patients requiring hospital care has also risen slightly. On 28 January, the total number of people requiring hospital care was 138 and 22 patients were in intensive care.