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Photo by Gintautas Degutis (VŽ).
In Finland, the spread of the new coronavirus is accelerating again, health officials said Thursday, planning to announce new restrictive measures next week.
Recent estimates suggest that the transmission rate (R0) has now risen to more than 1.1-1.4, Lysa Marija Voipio-Pulki, director of strategy at the Ministry of Health, said at a press conference in Helsinki.
“The situation is extremely fragile”, L.-M. Voipio-Pulkki added that “a certain second stage has begun.”
“Whether we can expect a smaller or larger wave will depend on how we react,” explained the expert.
Although more cases have recently been reported, the incidence of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Finland remains the lowest in Europe. In the last two weeks there have been two new cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants.
To date, in this 5.5 million. 7,512 COVID-19 cases and 331 deaths have been confirmed in a country with a population of. The spread of the disease slowed markedly in June and early July.
However, most of the quarantine measures introduced in the spring in Finland have been lifted. Large gatherings of people outdoors and indoors have again been allowed, restaurants and bars are operating in normal mode, and children are expected to return to school next week after summer break.
Authorities said a “fall plan” would be announced next week, providing for the introduction of new measures as the virus continues to spread.
These may include localized quarantine measures and the decision to require masks for the first time.
To date, the services have avoided requiring the use of masks, arguing that there is insufficient evidence of their effectiveness.
Although the observed increase in new infections is still relatively small, it appears that during the new phase, the virus is much more likely to affect people under 30 years of age. In the past, it has become more prevalent among older people, statistics show.
According to officials, this situation was caused by more intense communication among the youngest in the summer.
Norway and Denmark have also seen an escalation of COVID-19 in recent weeks and local outbreaks have been detected, but, as in Finland, the baseline levels have been very low.
Currently, Sweden, which has not been subject to quarantine measures, has seen a decline in new infections in recent weeks, although the total number of infections and deaths in this country is much higher than in its neighbors.
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