Restaurants, bars in Lapland face restriction as tourism poses risk

The government on Thursday imposed stricter restrictions on businesses serving food or beverages in the regions of Southwest Finland, North Karelia, and Lapland and in the Hospital District of South Savo.

The government issued the order due to an acceleration of the epidemic in these areas, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in a press release.

The general obligations of food and beverage service businesses remain unchanged in the decree.

The decree comes into force on 12 December and remains in force until 28 February 2021.

By way of exception, restrictions to the number of customers seating, opening hours, and licensing hours will be introduced in the whole of Lapland.

The Hospital District of Länsi-Pohja, which is classified as a part of Lapland, has reached the acceleration phase of the epidemic, whereas the Hospital District of Lapland is still at the stable level.

Uniform restrictions are being laid down because the tourist season will bring tens of thousands of tourists from other countries to Lapland for Christmas and the New Year, especially from places that are in the acceleration and community transmission phase of the epidemic.

All food and beverage service businesses in Lapland will be allowed to serve alcohol between 7.00 and 22.00.

Restaurants that primarily serve alcoholic beverages may remain open between 24:00 and23:00 and they will be allowed to seat half of their normal number of customers. Other restaurants may remain open between and 1.00 and 24:00 and seat 75% of their normal number of customers.

The restrictions in Lapland are the same as those previously imposed in regions that reached the acceleration phase of the epidemic. The same restrictions now also apply to the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, South Karelia, North Karelia, Central Finland, South Ostrobothnia, Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Lapland.

In addition, the same restrictions apply to businesses serving food or beverages located in the Hospital District of South Savo, but not to the entire region of South Savo. This is because the epidemic is still at the stable level in the Hospital District of East Savo, which is part of the region of South Savo.

Meanwhile, the government on Thursday decided to extend the restrictions on entry into the country until 12 January 2021, said a government press release.

The COVID-19 epidemic is still clearly growing globally, and the number of infections is increasing in most countries. Although the number of new cases in Finland started to rise in the autumn after a calmer period in the summer, differences between the epidemiological situations in Finland and many other countries have recently grown sharply.

It is therefore not justified to ease the restrictions until the new health security measures under preparation have been made sufficiently available.

The decision is based on the limit value of a maximum of 25 new cases of the disease per 100,000 persons in the previous 14 days. It applies to Schengen countries, non-Schengen EU countries and the United Kingdom.