Spend Easter at home with family: THL

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Thursday urged people to spend Easter this year at home with family following the worsening coronavirus situation across the country.

The request has been made as reducing social contacts will reduce the risk of being infected with coronavirus, everyone should consider how they could minimise contacts both in their daily lives and during Easter holidays, said THL in a press release.

A person in quarantine or isolation cannot travel, and the quarantine or isolation must be spent in a location specified by an infectious disease doctor.

The THL recommended that leisure travel, both domestically and abroad, should wait for the epidemic situation to improve.

However, if anyone has to travel outside one’s local area, it is particularly important to check in advance the instructions issued by the local authorities for one’s destination area and the restrictions in force there.

“I hope that people will think twice before they go on a holiday elsewhere in Finland instead of staying in their local area or at their summer cottage. This is absolutely necessary this Easter. In particular, the corona situation in southern Finland has reached a record level, and group trips involving a relatively large number of participants are associated with a significant risk of spreading the disease. We have recently received examples of such cases,” said THL Director Mika Salminen.

“As it is now, the safest way to act is as most people did at the turn of the year and during the skiing holiday; that is, to stay with one's own family and friends, away from after-ski parties. Let's try together to avoid any setbacks during the spring, so that we can have an opportunity to enjoy our summer holidays,” said Salminen.

The authority urged people to engage in versatile outdoor activities in their own home neighbourhood. THL therefore encourages people to be outdoors and enjoy the spring weather, as the risk of getting a coronavirus infection while being outdoors is low.