On Monday 27 April, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported 119 more coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish) infections. With them, the total number of laboratory-diagnosed cases rose to 4,695.
The health agency also reported 3 new deaths caused by the disease, bringing the total number of Covid-19 deaths in Finland to 193.
However, these data do not reflect the whole extent of the Finnish tragedy. The overall number of fatalities rose significantly last week because the Helsinki-Uusimaa hospital district (HUS) also included in its report those deaths that have occurred in the nursing homes of the Helsinki Metropolitan area.
For example last Saturday, Finnish people learned about the dead of 10 people two weeks ago in a senior centre in Kontula (east Helsinki). Some reports have been published by Finnish media about the chaotic situation in some of the nursing homes of the capital area. Shortage of personnel, lack of protective equipment, nurses doing the laundry and cleaning are some of the problems denounced.
This opens the possibility that the figures could increase much more when the rest of the country's hospital districts also inform on the deaths in their homes for the elderly.
Previous illnesses
The health agency has disclosed a few details regarding the age of 144 of the dead. The majority of the dead people (over 90%) had one or more long-term illnesses, says THL. The most common of these have been heart disease and diabetes.
In the age groups 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59, there are less than 5 deaths in each, 9 in the 60-69 age group, 29 in the 70-79 age group, 69 in the 80-89 age group, and there are 32 people in their 90s.
52% of the dead are men and 48% are women.
The median age of the dead is 84 years, says THL.
Source: THL.
New deaths in Helsinki and Turku regions
Helsinki-Uusimaa remains the epicenter and region hardest hit by the epidemic. According to official figures, to date, 3,204 cases of Covid-19 have been found in the capital metropolitan area. Of them, 1,772 in the city of Helsinki.
Of the 3 deaths reported on Monday, 2 occurred in the Helsinki metropolitan area (HYKS), where so far the vast majority of the deaths (157) have been recorded. The other fatality was registered in the Turku+Åland hospital region (TYKS), where so far 7 people died.
Helsinki-Uusimaa is also the region with the highest incidence of infections: 190 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The region with the second highest incidence of the virus is North West Finland (Länsi Pohja), at the Swedish border, which has 175.8 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
56 in intensive care units
On Monday, the official number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus was 187. And the number of people admitted to intensive care units was 56, six less than in the previous day.
In relation to the total Finnish population (5,543,233), the average incidence is 85 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
According to a preliminary estimate by THL, there are at least 2,500 people who may have already recovered from the disease.
To date, Finnish laboratories have taken samples from approximately 82,400 people.
