406 new coronavirus deaths reported in 2 weeks in Finland

The coronavirus death toll in the country has reached 3,252 till Sunday as a total of 406 new deaths were reported in the last two weeks (21 March to 3 April), said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in a joint press release on Thursday.

In the preceding two-week period the figure was 275.

The average age (median) of those who have died during the epidemic is 83 years. The number of deaths related to COVID-19 has risen as infections have also spread widely among older people.

There are still no signs of the COVID-19 epidemic abating in Finland. The total number of patients in specialised healthcare and primary healthcare has remained high since the turn of 2021–2022.

On 3 April, there were 425 inpatients in specialised healthcare, of whom 44 were inpatients in intensive care and 381 inpatients in other wards. The number of intensive care patients decreased at the end of January, and since then, it has remained at around 30–50.

Between 21 March and 3 April, a total of 853 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to specialised healthcare. At the national level, the number of new patients in specialised healthcare has remained quite high.

Altogether 84 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to intensive care between 21 March and 3 April. The number of new intensive care patients is about the same as in the preceding two weeks when the total of new admissions was 81.

On Wednesday, about one out of three patients in specialised healthcare was being treated mainly for some other reason than COVID-19. The corresponding figure for intensive care was approximately one out of four patients.

The total number of COVID-19 patients in primary healthcare was 591. The number of patients in primary healthcare grew sharply at the turn of 2021–2022. In January and February, the number of patients remained high, and it continued to grow in March. On Wednesday, about one third of all COVID-19 patients in primary healthcare were being treated mainly for some other reason than COVID-19.

The estimated effective basic reproduction number is 0.85–0.95 with a 90 per cent probability. The number has reduced slightly since it was reported previously. The number was then 0.90–1.05. The effective basic reproduction number reflects the trend in the spread of infections among the population. A value of just below 1 indicates that there is a possible downward trend in the epidemic at the level of overall population. However, it is possible that the epidemic progresses at different speeds in different age groups.

In Finland, over 87 per cent of people who are 18 years of age or over have received at least two vaccine doses and 63 per cent three vaccine doses. A total of 85 per cent of people aged 60 or over have received three vaccine doses, and 18 per cent of people over 80 years of age who have received three vaccine doses have also received a fourth vaccine dose.