Nearly 39,000 new COVID-19 cases in Finland, burden on hospital care still alarming

NordenBladet — Around 38,700 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the past seven days, between 26 December 2021 and 1 January 2022, compared to around 19,600 new cases in the previous week. On 4 January 2022, the total number of confirmed cases of the Omikron variant was 363. The overall burden on hospital care has risen, while the need for intensive care has stayed at its high level.In the last 14 days (between 19 December 2021 and 1 January 2022), the incidence of new cases was 1048 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 426 in the preceding two-week period. On 4 January 2022, the estimated effective basic reproduction number took a sharp turn upwards and was 1.15–1.3 with a 90 per cent probability.At the end of last week, the total number of patients in specialised healthcare was 205, of whom 153 were in inpatient care and 52 in intensive care. On 4 January 2022, the total number of COVID-19-related deaths reported to the communicable diseases register was 1599. In the last 14 days (21 December 2021–4 January 2022), a total of 104 deaths were reported. People over 70 years of age accounted for 76 per cent of the deaths.Reaching as high a vaccination coverage as possible and maintaining vaccination protection are crucial for controlling the epidemic as vaccination protects individuals and curbs asymptomatic community transmission. By 5 January 2022, 81 per cent of people in Finland who are 5 years of age or over had received at least one vaccine dose, 77.2 per cent at least two vaccine doses and 23.1 per cent three vaccine doses.Compared to the situation a week earlier on 29 December 2021, the intake of the first vaccine rose by 0.2 percentage points, the second by 0.2 percentage points and the third by 4.0 percentage points.The number of COVID-19 tests continues to be high, and positive test results have more than doubled in number. Between 26 December and 1 January, the number of tests performed rose above 147,200 and around 26 per cent of all samples tested positive, compared to 11.8 per cent in the previous seven-day period.The whole of Finland now matches the characteristics of a community transmission area.The epidemiological situation is monitored weekly. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare publishes the key monitoring information on the COVID-19 epidemic on a new reporting website. 

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi