Spread of Coronavirus slows down a bit but remains high still

Between 15 and 21 March, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Finland decreased for the first time since the increase in case numbers in mid-February, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in a joint press release on Thursday.

Although the rise in the number of cases has subsided at the national level for the time being, new cases are still reported in large numbers.

Most of them are reported in southern and southwestern Finland. In March, inpatients in specialised healthcare facilities have placed an increasing burden of demand for services and the need for intensive care has grown considerably.

Between 15 and 21 March, about 4,650 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, showing a decrease of about 275 cases from that in the previous week.

The incidence of new cases was 84 per 100,000 inhabitants. This means that the incidence of new cases has decreased slightly from 89 in the previous week.

The total number of new cases in the last two-week period was nearly 9,600, while in the preceding two-week period it was over 8,400. The incidence of new cases was 173 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the preceding two-week period it was 152.

Between 15 and 21 March, like throughout the early part of this year, the majority of all new cases were reported among working-age adults and young adults.

Four out of five cases were reported among people less than 50 years of age and more than half of the cases among people aged 20–50. People under 10 years of age accounted for about 13 per cent of the new cases and people aged 10–19 accounted for around 14 per cent of all cases reported between 15 and 21 March.