Govt warns of COVID-19 resurgence in autumn

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on Thursday cautioned against a possible surge in coronavirus cases in the country this autumn and winter, reported Xinhua.

Taneli Puumalainen, a director at the ministry, told a press conference on Thursday that "unfortunately, our forecasts show an upturn in the virus. It is hard to predict how large the wave will be."

While the ministry stopped short of recommending that everyone in Finland wear a face mask, it recalled that from Oct. 1, all people over the age of 14 in Germany will be required to wear an FFP-2 mask on long-distance transport and in health and care settings.

In Finland, the wearing of face masks is neither mandatory nor recommended.

Puumalainen also mentioned the World Health Organization's July recommendation that face masks should be worn on public transport and said that masks should be considered by vulnerable people.

A COVID-19 booster shot will be offered to all people over the age of 65 and to younger people at risk for serious disease. The boosters will be combined with the seasonal flu shots and administered in November-December.

Tuija Leino, head of the Immunizations Program Unit at the National Institute for Health and Wellbeing (THL), said that the emerging new Omicron variants of COVID-19 appear to be better at evading the immune system.

One out of eight infected persons appears to develop persistent symptoms, Puumalainen said. Vaccination appears to reduce the risk of having long COVID symptoms by half.

The COVID-19 viral RNA (ribonucleic acid) load in wastewater remains high in Finland, though somewhat below the level recorded in early 2022.

On Wednesday, 749 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Finland.