5 new coronavirus cases confirmed in Finland

Five new cases of COVID-19 infection were confirmed in Finland on Thursday, bringing the total number of such cases in the country to 12, reported news agency Xinhua quoting Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

Three of the new cases are diagnosed in Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), and two others are in Pirkanmaa Hospital District and Kanta-Hame Hospital District, the THL said in a press release.

In the capital region, one of the patients is a working-age woman, whose infection is associated with a previously-confirmed case, and two others are working-age men, whose infection are linked to traveling in northern Italy, the HUS said in a press release.

The above three persons returned home after sampling. They are in good condition and have been advised to be self-quarantining at home.

According to national broadcaster Yle, the case in Kanta-Hame is a child who had returned from northern Italy with his family on Tuesday. The case in Pirkanmaa is a 44-year-old patient, who is relatively healthy and has been in quarantine at home.

Earlier, on March 1, two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Helsinki by the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district (HUS).

They had contact with a woman who had tested positive for COVID-19 in Helsinki on February 28.

On February 28, a patient is a working-age Finnish woman in Helsinki was diagnosed infected with the virus. She returned from northern Italy recently.

On February 26 another Finnish woman in Helsinki was diagnosed with coronavirus infection.

The patient is also a working-age person who had caught the disease while visiting Milan, Northern Italy.

In late January, a female Chinese tourist tested positive for novel coronavirus in northern Finland's Lapland. She had been discharged from hospital later.