Here’s our evening round-up of all the latest Covid-19 coronavirus news from Finland:
- Government set to impose Uusimaa travel restrictions
- Two new Covid-19 deaths - 880 confirmed cases
- Finnair cancels more regional flights
- Espoo offers coronavirus advice in 10 more languages
- Marimekko shuts many stores worldwide
Government set to impose Uusimaa travel restrictions
Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) is set to announce new travel restrictions for people in Uusimaa region, to help slow the spread of coronavirus. There have been ongoing discussions between government parties during the last two days, and a Wednesday evening press conference was delayed at least 45 minutes - so we’re publishing this round-up before the official announcement, and will update it as soon as there is concrete information.
Two new deaths - 880 confirmed cases
Health authorities have confirmed the deaths of two more people from coronavirus in Finland, bringing the total to three fatalities. The two latest cases happened in the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District; and in Kanta-Häme Hospital District.
HUS has not released any details about the patient who died there, but in Kanta-Häme the patient was a middle-aged person who had existing medical conditions that made them more at risk to Covid-19.
The hospital district says that so far 20 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the area and that one new case was diagnosed on Tuesday. The infected person was previously in close contact with someone else who had coronavirus and all chains of infection in all cases in Kanta-Häme have been traced.
According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare there’s been a total of 880 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Finland. Read more at our story here.
Finnair cancels more regional flights
Finnair has announced that it’s canceling more flights around the Nordic and Baltic region due to tightening travel restrictions triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The airline says it’s canceling all flights from 1st April to Copenhagen, Riga and Oslo until the middle of April.
Finnair already said it was having to cut up to 90% of its flight schedule due to the pandemic, as countries introduced travel restrictions and quarantines, and as passenger numbers anyway declined sharply.
Espoo offers coronavirus info in 10 more languages
Finland’s second largest city Espoo has launched a new web service with coronavirus information in ten different languages.
The site gives information about symptoms and what to do if you become sick; information about schools and kindergatens in the city; help for businesses; rules on quarantine and the latest government advice about the pandemic.
Information is available in Albanian, Arabic, Farsi, English, Hindi, Chinese, Somali, Russian, Vietnamese and Estonian - as well as Finnish and Swedish of course.
Marimekko shuts many stores worldwide
Finnish fashion and design brand Marimekko is feeling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday morning the company lowered its financial forecast saying the virus could have a “significant impact on the company’s sales and profitability.”
For health reasons Marimekko has decided to temporarily close all its stores in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, USA and Australia – and start negotiations for redundancies which will affect all staff either through temporary lay-offs of permanent staff cuts.
“The coronavirus pandemic is a human crisis that affects us all, and its effects on the economy and on consumer demand – especially as the state of emergency is prolonged – are huge” says Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, Marimekko President and CEO.
Read more at our story here.
