Number of COVID-19 infections rises across Finland in July

The number of new COVID-19 infections continues to increase for the fifth week in a row, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in a press release on Thursday.

The total number of new cases reported between 19 and 25 July was 2,895. The number is almost 30 per cent higher than the week before. Out of the administered 116,600 COVID-19 tests, the share of positive samples was 2.5 per cent.

The 14-day incidence rates have increased in 19 hospital districts, that is almost throughout the whole country.

For the last two-week period, the incidence of new cases is now 93 per hundred thousand inhabitants, The estimated effective basic reproduction number has stayed the same as the week before, i.e. 1.05–1.25, with a 90 per cent probability, which reflects the continued growth of the epidemic. The share of infections from abroad is around 8 per cent.

The epidemic is still spreading among young adults. Between 19 and 25 July, over half of infections were reported among people aged 10–29 and predominantly among those between 18–21 years of age. Last week, 5,952 people were placed in quarantine. This is almost the same number as the week before.

In the summer, the transmission chains have become wider. Tracing is more difficult and there are some backlogs. However, in 67 per cent of the cases, infections have been traced successfully.

People have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus at different kinds of leisure time events, in restaurants and other food and beverage service businesses, and in outdoor parties and public events.

In Finland, around 65 per cent of the population have received at least their first vaccine dose and 32 per cent of the population have full vaccination coverage, i.e. they have received the second vaccine dose.

Based on the information provided by the hospital districts, a total of 57 people were receiving hospital care due to the COVID-19 disease on 28 July 2021. Of them, 3 were inpatients in primary healthcare, 48 inpatients in specialised healthcare and 6 inpatients in intensive care. Among those in need of hospital care in Finland, the number of young adults and non-vaccinated patients is notable.

During the epidemic, a total of 982 deaths related to the disease have been reported by 28 July 2021.