Health guidance point opened at Helsinki Port

The City of Helsinki on Monday opened its first health guidance point for ship passengers at Terminal 2 of the West Harbour at the Port of Helsinki, said a press release.

Similar health guidance points will also be opened at the Olympic Terminal and the Katajanokka Terminal soon.

The health guidance points will offer ship passengers information on coronavirus prevention and refer passengers with symptoms indicative of COVID-19 to get tested.

The health guidance points will not carry out coronavirus testing, at least for the time being, but will instead direct passengers to other testing stations in Helsinki, if necessary.

The aim is to prevent the further spread of coronavirus infections contracted on ships and ensure passenger safety.

Earlier, on Sunday, some of the passengers arriving at the Vuosaari Harbour from Germany were offered the opportunity to undergo a voluntary coronavirus test. Health guidance was provided by the City of Helsinki, while the actual testing was carried out by HUSLAB.

The test was offered to a total of 127 passengers travelling with 65 cars. Forty-six of the passengers took up the offer.

The total number of vehicles arriving in Helsinki on the ship in question was 116. The test was offered to passengers in connection with normal customs checks.

“The health guidance and testing went well in Vuosaari. We will be utilising the lessons learned here, as we expand our coronavirus health guidance and potentially testing as well at harbours,” said Helsinki City Health and Substance Abuse Services Director Leena Turpeinen.

“We do not yet know whether any of the passengers tested today were infected with the coronavirus. We will announce the test results as soon as they are ready,” Turpeinen added.

At present, Helsinki Port’s harbours record about 10,000 to 15,000 passengers arriving a day, which is about half of the passenger volume recorded during the same period in 2019.