Press release by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare:
Growth rate of new COVID-19 cases has slowed down, but the situation remains serious

The increase in the number of new coronavirus infections has slowed down in Finland, but new cases are still found widely across the country.

Many regions have intensified their preventive measures over the past few weeks. While restrictions and recommendations have succeeded in checking the growth of new cases, the incidence rate and need for hospital care remain at such a high level that restrictive measures should be continued. The development of the epidemic and need for hospital care will be closely monitored during Christmas and the New Year period.

The total number of new cases in the last two-week period (7–20 December) was 5172, which was 965 cases less than in the preceding two-week period. 

The incidence of new cases was 93 per 100,000 inhabitants and in the preceding two-week period it was 111 per 100,000 inhabitants. 

Number of cases in older age groups is still alarming

During the period of 14–20 December, people under 50 years of age accounted for just over 75 per cent of all cases and people under 30 years of age for nearly 40 per cent of the cases. People over 60 years of age accounted for more than 15 per cent of the new cases, while people over 70 years of age accounted for more than eight per cent of the new cases. The percentages are roughly the same as in the previous week.

On 23 December, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Finland stood at 34,084. There have been 524 deaths related to the disease. It is estimated that about 26,000 people, which is over 75 per cent of all confirmed cases, have recovered from the disease.

On 23 December, a total of 258 patients were receiving hospital care due to the COVID-19 disease, and 26 of them were in intensive care. There were 97 inpatients in specialised medical care and 135 in primary healthcare. The number of inpatients was at the same level as the week before. While there were fewer patients in intensive care than the previous week, the number of patients was the same as two weeks ago.

The monitoring report on the epidemic published today and the previous reports are available on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare:

• Monitoring coronavirus (in Finnish and Swedish) 
• The COVID-19 epidemic: regional situation, recommendations and restrictions 
• Coronavirus in numbers (Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa)
• Action plan for implementing recommendations and restrictive measures under the hybrid strategy following the first phase of the COVID-19 epidemic (Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2020:26), description sheet available in English

Inquiries

Taneli Puumalainen (development of the epidemic), Chief Physician, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, [email protected] 
Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki (situational picture and modelling group), Strategic Director, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, [email protected]