COVID-19 infection downtrend continues

Over the past five weeks, the number of new COVID-19 cases has clearly declined, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in a press release on Thursday.

However, the number of new cases remains high, which implies that the situation may deteriorate again rapidly, if contacts between people increase significantly in the next few weeks allowing the virus to spread more freely among the population.

Currently, the number of new cases is at the same level as at the turn of the year and in October-November 2020. Cases of more transmissible virus variants have been reported throughout the country.

There are major regional differences in the development of the epidemic. Southern Finland is still the worst affected area but the number of cases has clearly declined in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), for example.

Between 12 and 18 April, more than 1,900 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, showing a decrease of about 600 cases week on week. The number of new cases was 60% lower in 12 to 18 April than in eight to 14 March, when the number of cases was the highest during the entire period of this epidemic (4,941 cases). The incidence of new cases was 35 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the previous week it was 46.

The total number of new cases reported in the last two-week period was almost 4,500, which is about 3,000 cases less than that in the preceding two-week period. The incidence of new cases was 80 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two-week period, while in the preceding two-week period it was 134.

Around 104,000 COVID-19 tests were taken between 12 and 18 April. The number of samples taken has declined steadily over the past month. On the other hand, the percentage of positive coronavirus infections of all the samples tested has also declined over the past month, standing at approximately 1.8% between 12 and 18 April. This means infections are still being detected effectively.