Sharp increase in Covid-19 infections
The number and incidence of new coronavirus infections has "clearly increased compared to the low figures at the beginning of July," the government said in its latest assessment of the epidemic. Nevertheless, the number of cases remains relatively small at national level compared to other countries.
The increased number of new cases is most evident in the Helsinki and Uusimaa area. During the latest period (3–9 August), a total of 139 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register. In the previous week (27 July–2 August 2020) the number of reported cases was 81. In the weeks before, the numbers were smaller than this.
The figures cited by the Government, although showing a sharp rise, are not bad. The level of transmission of the virus continues to be low in Finland and the situation in the hospitals is completely normal, without special pressure on their resources or intensive care units. The problem is that the evaluated period ended on 9 August and the epidemic has accelerated more in recent days.
According to THL, on Thursday 13 August, for example, 41 new cases were reported, the highest daily number since May. So far, 7,683 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in Finland and the disease has claimed 333 lives. No deaths have been registered since 10 August.
A total of 7 patients are receiving hospital. Of them, 1 is in intensive care.
Currently, the estimated basic reproduction number is 1.20-1.60, with a 90 per cent probability. This value indicates how much the virus is spreading. A reproduction rate higher than 1 means that, on average, each patient carrying the disease infects more than one person.
4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
The incidence of new cases during the week 3-9 August was 2.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. The incidence of new cases in the two-week period (27 July–9 August) was 4 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Currently, the government is demanding from other countries an incidence of maximum 8 - exceptionally 10 - cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks, so that people can enter Finland without restrictions or quarantines.
Government says that new cases of both domestic and foreign origin have been reported. Some of them are related to identified infection chains that are being monitored.
It is estimated that 7,050 people (over 90% of all confirmed cases), have already recovered from the disease. In general, the number of hospitalised coronavirus patients has remained at a low level since the beginning of July.