37 new coronavirus infections diagnosed in 24 hours

The total number of coronavirus infections in the country increased to 7,842 as 37 more infections have been diagnosed in the last 24 hours, said the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus deaths in Finland remains unchanged at 334, as no new death has been reported in the last three days.

The last coronavirus death in the country was reported on August 17.

So far, a total of 275 people have died in the Helsinki-Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS), 25 in the Pohjois-Savo Hospital District (KYS), 19 in the Turku Hospital District (TYKS), 12 in the Pohjois-Pohjanmaa Hospital District (OYS), and three in the Tampere-Pirkanmaa (TAYS) Hospital District.

Until Thursday, 7,100 or more than 90% coronavirus-infected patients in Finland had recovered.

A total of eight coronavirus patients are now undergoing treatment at different hospitals.

However, there is no patient in any intensive care unit (ICU).

According to the THL report, in relation to Finland’s total population (5,543,233), the prevalence of COVID-19 cases is 142 per 100,000 people.

Meanwhile, the number of new coronavirus infections remains relatively small at national level, although the number and incidence of cases have risen compared to the low figures at the beginning of July, said a press release of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on Thursday.

During the latest period (10–16 August), a total of 131 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register. In the previous week (3–9 August), the number of reported cases was 168.

Currently, the estimated basic reproduction number is 1.30–1.50, with a 90 per cent probability.

The incidence of new cases during the period of 10–16 August was 2.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. The incidence of new cases in the two-week period (3–16 August) was 5.4 per 100,000 inhabitants and in the preceding two-week period (20 July–2 August) it was 2.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Cases of both domestic still and foreign origin have been reported in Finland. Infections stem from several countries. Some of the new cases are related to identified infection chains and clusters of cases that are being monitored, but the source of all infections is not known. The infection chains of all new cases are carefully tracked in order to prevent new infections as effectively as possible.