COVID-19 epidemic continues to decrease

The COVID-19 epidemic has continued to subside throughout Finland within the last two weeks, said Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in a joint press release on Thursday.

However, there is still regional variation in the development of the epidemic, as the incidence of COVID-19 cases is higher in some areas of southern Finland than in the rest of the country.

Overall, the COVID-19 situation is calm, with most areas recording only a small number of new cases. The estimated effective basic reproduction number in Finland is currently 0.55–0.70, with a 90 per cent probability.

Between 7 and 13 June, a total of 543 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, which is about 170 cases fewer than in the preceding week when the figure was 717. The incidence of new cases has continued to fall.

n the last two-week period (31 May–13 June), the incidence of new cases was 23 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the preceding two-week period (17–30 May), it was 40.

In most of the areas, the epidemic was at a stable level on 16 June 2021, according to the overall assessments made by the hospital districts. Only three areas were in the acceleration phase: the Hospital Districts of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), Päijät-Häme and Kanta-Häme. None of the areas were in the community transmission phase.

The number of conducted COVID-19 tests has decreased slightly. Between 7 and 13 June, over 90,000 tests were taken, which is more than 18,000 tests fewer than in the preceding week.

The percentage of positive samples of all those tested was 0.6 per cent, which is about the same as the week before. This small percentage of positive samples suggests that infections among the population continue to be detected effectively.

The source of infection was traced in two out of three new cases of domestic origin. This is slightly more than the week before. Between 7 and 13 June, about 2,200 people were placed in quarantine. People already in quarantine accounted for 37 per cent of all new cases between 7 and 13 June.

The percentage of cases where the virus was contracted abroad has continued to grow. Between 7 and 13 June, the cases of foreign origin accounted for 19 per cent of all new cases, while in the previous week, they accounted for 16 per cent of the cases. However, further infections resulting from them have been prevented well as before, and they accounted for 2.7 per cent of all confirmed cases.