On Wednesday 15 April, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported 8 more deaths due to coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish) and 76 new infections.
This is the highest number of daily deaths recorded in the country since the epidemic began. And the health authorities published it the same day that the Government ordered to end the isolation of the region of Helsinki-Uusimaa, the one most affected by the virus.
The Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced the reopening of the regional borders on Wednesday morning at a press conference with the ministers of the Interior and Justice, Maria Ohisalo and Anna-Maja Henriksson. Later, the Government issued a decree to that effect.
Of those eight deaths occurred in the last 24 hours, 6 have been registered precisely in the Helsinki-Uusimaa hospital area (HYKS), where to date 49 people have died from Covid-19. Another more death was recorded in the Tampere area (TAYS) and another one in the Turku hospital region (TYKS).
With them, the total number of deaths in Finland since the outbreak of the epidemic amounts to 72.
Source: THL.
THL has disclosed a few details regarding the age of 37 of the dead. There are two dead between the ages of 40 and 59, 13 between the ages of 60 and 79, and 22 over the age of 80. The median age of the dead is 81 years.
Among the deceased, 70% are men and 30% are women.
3,237 infections in total
The 76 new infections reported on Wednesday raised to 3,237 the total number of laboratory-diagnosed cases found in Finland. However, the actual figures are likely to be higher, since people with mild symptoms are not generally tested.
Helsinki-Uusimaa remains the epicenter and region hardest hit by the epidemic. According to official figures, 2,038 cases of Covid-19 have been found in the capital metropolitan area. Of them, 1,149 in the city of Helsinki.
Number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants per region. Source: THL.
The Helsinki-Uusimaa region also remains the region with the highest incidence of infections: 120.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The region with the second highest incidence of the virus is North West Finland (Länsi Pohja), which has 96.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The situation has worsened during the Easter holiday in this area which borders with Sweden.
On Wednesday, the official number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus was 226. And the number of people admitted to intensive care units was 75.
In relation to the total Finnish population (5,526,774), the average incidence rate of cases is 58 per 100,000 inhabitants.
According to THL, to date, Finnish laboratories have taken samples from approximately 48,800 people.
