Number of coronavirus infections hits record

Finland recorded nearly 4,400 new cases of COVID-19 between 1 and 7 March, which is the highest number since the epidemic started, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in a joint press release on Thursday.

The situation is now particularly difficult in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa and the Hospital District of Southwest Finland.

The need for hospital care has continued to increase almost throughout the country.

Vaccinations do not significantly slow down the spread of the virus but they protect people against COVID-19 and have already reduced the number of deaths from COVID-19.

More than 500,000 people in Finland have now received at least one vaccine dose (8.9 per cent of those over 16 years of age).

As the number of positive cases increases, it may take considerably more time to trace contacts. In Finland as a whole, the source of infection was traced in 62 per cent of all new cases of domestic origin.

If it is not possible to prevent further infections due to delays in contact tracing, the epidemic will continue to accelerate. Rapid contact tracing also plays a key role in limiting chains of transmission caused by the new virus variants.

There are a few areas in Finland where the epidemic is at a stable level. During the winter holiday period, however, tourism increases the risk of the virus spreading to these areas.

Between 1 and 7 March, nearly 4,000 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, showing an increase of over 400 cases from that of the previous week. The incidence of new cases was 79 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the previous week it was 72.

The total number of new cases in the last two-week period was about 8,350, which was nearly 2,300 cases more than in the preceding two-week period. The incidence of new cases was 151 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the preceding two-week period it was 110.