Five Finnish regions will be hit with tighter opening hours and occupancy restrictions for bars, restaurants and nightclubs as the number of coronavirus cases increases.
From Sunday venues in Uusimaa, Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, Kanta-Häme and Ostrobothnia must call last orders for drinks at 22:00, with closing time an hour later at 23:00; businesses can only seat half the number of customers they usually do - with a goal of more effective social distancing between patrons.
Four of those regions are said to be in an ‘accelerated‘ phase of the coronavirus pandemic which means there’s between 10-25 confirmed cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 population in the previous two weeks. It also means that public health officials are still generally able to trace infection chains, and hospitals are able to provide care for everyone who needs it.
Ostrobothnia however is now considered in the more serious ‘spreading’ phase of the virus with 18-50 confirmed cases per 100,00 people in the last two weeks; the source of infection cases is unknown in about half of the cases; and growing pressure on hospital resources including intensive care beds in hospitals.
Officials say the restrictions are only temporary and will be eased when incidences of the virus fall again.
“If and when an area is in a situation where the acceleration phase has been restored to baseline, then at that point this restriction will be lifted” says Kirsi Varhila, Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
According to Taneli Puumalainen, Chief Physician at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL, the coronavirus situation has deteriorated “quite dramatically” in recent days.
He says the new restrictive measures are justified because there’s no longer any ambiguity whether there are viral clusters associated with late night drinking.
