Tuesday April 30, 2024

Gov't measures slow down spread of coronavirus in Finland

Published : 01 Apr 2020, 21:17

  DF-Xinhua Report
THL Director Mika Salminen (Left) spoke at a press conference on Wednesday. Photo Finnish government by Lauri Heikkinen.

The restrictive measures implemented in Finland have already clearly slowed down the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said on Wednesday.

"It can already be said that the epidemic has developed more slowly than would have been expected without any action in Finland," said THL Director Mika Salminen at a press conference on Wednesday morning.

"It is safe to say that the restrictions have clearly slowed down the development (of the disease)," Salminen emphasized, adding that if no restrictions had been made, the number of cases would have been expected to grow exponentially on a daily basis.

According to the THL, up to Wednesday, Finland had confirmed 1,446 coronavirus cases. Seventeen patients have died, 62 have been in intensive care and 159 hospitalized. A total of 62 new cases were confirmed and no fatality was reported on Wednesday.

According to Salminen, the epidemic has developed more slowly than previously estimated. This proves that the government's restrictive measures have worked effectively.

For example, in Finland, most infections have been found in the Uusimaa province in the south, where the number of confirmed cases is four times higher than in other provinces. However, the number of confirmed cases has decreased constantly in Uusimaa in the past few days.

Since the coronavirus outbreak in Finland at the end of February, the Finnish government has carried out a series of restrictive measures to curb the spread of the disease, including closing the country's borders, shutting down schools and other educational institutes, limiting public gatherings to ten people, encouraging remote working and sealing off travel to and from the Uusimaa province to prevent the spread of the virus across other areas of the country.