Helsinki faces backlog in infection tracking

The City of Helsinki is facing backlog in infection tracking and became unable to call all infected people during the 10 days of isolation due to huge number of coronavirus infections during the recent period.

The authority urged the people to avoid close contact with other people and stay at home during isolation and read detailed isolation instructions on its website, said the City of Helsinki in a press release on Tuesday.

The city will send all infected people a text message with a link to an online form that requires strong electronic authentication to open and complete.

The form will provide the infected people with instructions on how to proceed. It allows the people to send information about, among other things, people you may have exposed.

The authority requested the people to return the completed online form.

If anyone does not get the SMS, the person was also urged to follow the isolation instructions on the website.

The duration of the isolation is usually at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms or from the testing date in the case of asymptomatic patients. There should be two asymptomatic days before the end of the isolation, i.e. the fever is gone and the other symptoms are clearly diminishing.

If these conditions are met, people do not need to contact the Epidemiologic Operations Unit and can continue their lives as normal after isolation. The City will contact the people later about the isolation decision.

If anyone still has a fever or other clear symptoms related to coronavirus on the ninth day of isolation, the person has been requested to contact the Epidemiologic Operations Unit to continue isolation.