225 new coronavirus deaths reported in 2 weeks in Finland

The coronavirus death toll in the country has reached 2,351 till Wednesday as a total of 225 new deaths were reported in the last two weeks (10-23 February), 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 number of deaths was 232 in the preceding two-week period.

The need for hospital care has remained at a high but stable level.

The epidemiological situation is still serious. For that reason, the focus will be on people’s own measures to prevent the spread of infections as the restrictions are eased, said the authorities.

On 23 February, there were 354 COVID-19 inpatients in specialised healthcare. This is about the same as the week before when the number was 359 patients.

The total number of patients in intensive care was 37, compared to 30 last week. Between 14 and 20 February, a total of 25 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to intensive care, while in the preceding week, the number of new patients was 32.

An estimated 29 per cent of all COVID-19 patients on ordinary wards in specialised healthcare and 22 per cent of COVID-19 patients in intensive care were admitted mainly for some other reason than COVID-19.

The percentage of COVID-19 patients on ordinary wards who were being treated mainly for some other reason than COVID-19 was at the same level as the week before. The percentage of patients in intensive care was five percentage points lower compared to the week before.

Assessing the spread of the epidemic involves a considerable degree of uncertainty. Currently, the estimated effective basic reproduction number is 0.85–1.05, with a 90 per cent probability. This means that the number is slightly smaller than the week before when it was 0.95–1.15.

The overall level of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in Finland’s wastewater has remained high. The amount of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater have started to decrease only in Espoo and Helsinki, whereas it has continued to increase or remained stable in other regions where samples are taken.

By 23 February, 88.7 per cent of people in Finland who are 18 years of age or over had received at least one vaccine dose, 86.2 per cent at least two vaccine doses and 60.4 per cent three vaccine doses.