NordenBladet — The Government has amended the decree restricting the activities of food and beverage service businesses due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The restrictions for the community transmission phase will enter into force in the entire Uusimaa region and South Karelia. The Hospital District of South Savo is moving to the acceleration phase of the epidemic.The decree will enter into force on Sunday 22 August 2021.Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses in the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, Kymenlaakso, Uusimaa, Satakunta and South Karelia, which are all at the community transmission phase of the epidemic, from 22 August:Food and beverage service businesses may serve alcoholic beverages between 7.00 and 22.00 and be open between 5.00 and 23.00.Food and beverage service businesses that primarily serve alcoholic beverages may have only half the normal number of customer seats in use in their indoor and outdoor premises. Other food and beverage service businesses are restricted to 75 per cent of their normal number of customer seats indoors and outdoors.All customers must have their own seat at a table or similar in both indoor and outdoor premises. Customers are instructed to stay seated in indoor premises. Businesses must draw up and provide their customers with instructions on how to enter or leave the premises or access the area designated for smoking or the toilets and washing facilities and how to collect their takeaway orders of food and drinks. In practice, dancing and karaoke, for example, are not allowed.Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses in the regions of Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme, North Savo, North Karelia, Central Finland, South Ostrobothnia, Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, and in the Hospital District of South Savo and the city of Rovaniemi, which are all at the acceleration phase of the epidemic, from 22 August:Food and beverage service businesses may serve alcoholic beverages between 7.00 and 00.00 and be open between 5.00 and 1.00. Food and beverage service businesses that primarily serve alcoholic beverages may have half the normal number of customer seats in use in indoor premises. Other food and beverage service businesses may seat 75 per cent of their normal number of customers inside their establishments. As before, all customers must have their own seat by a table or counter when indoors. The number of customer seats in outdoor terraces is not limited. Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses in Åland, the Hospital District of East Savo and the region of Lapland, excluding the city of Rovaniemi, from 22 August: There are no separate restrictions on the number of customers or on licensing and opening hours.An exception to this applies to food and beverage service businesses in Åland. These businesses may serve alcoholic beverages between 7.00 and 00.00 and be open between 5.00 and 1.00.As before, all customers must have their own seat by a table or counter when indoors.The obligation to observe the general hygiene guidelines and to keep a safe distance applies in all regions.Exceptions to restrictions remain unchangedThe restrictions laid down in the decree do not apply to the activities of staff restaurants or to takeaway sales of food to customers. The restrictions on opening hours do not apply to food and beverage service businesses on vessels and aircraft that operate between Finland and other countries or abroad or to food and beverage service businesses that operate at distribution stations for liquid fuels.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — On Thursday, 19 August 2021, the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland’s evacuation operation at Kabul Airport.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — Doctor of Social Sciences Mikko Vähä-Sipilä has been appointed Director at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment beginning on 24 August 2021. The Government decided on the appointment on 19 August 2021.Vähä-Sipilä will be responsible for directing the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) measures at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. He will be in charge of managing and coordinating the RRF’s implementation at the Ministry, including cooperation between the different departments and the Ministry of Finance.“The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment plays an important role in implementing Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan. Effective implementation and good administration of the plan will be achieved in cooperation between many operators,” Vähä-Sipilä said. Vähä-Sipilä has worked as project manager at the Ministry since 2020. Prior to that, he was employed by the European Commission where he specialised in regional, structural and energy policy. Vähä-Sipilä has also been international relations manager at the National Emergency Supply Agency and programme coordinator and researcher at the University of Tampere.A total of 34 applications were received for the position.What is the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)? The EU’s recovery programme will speed up the recovery of Europe’s economies, societies and people from the coronavirus crisis. The RRF is the largest instrument in the EU’s recovery programme. The aim is to promote the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the Union and to improve the Member States’ ability to recover.The RRF will provide funding for the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland. The Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland will support growth that is ecologically, socially and economically sustainable in line with the aims of the Government Programme. The Programme will boost competitiveness, investment, RDI and measures to raise skill levels. Recovery funding promotes the renewal of economic structure and the competitive advantage of Finnish companies based on sustainable solutions.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — A few changes will be made to the restrictions on entry at external borders based on current incidence rates. The Government adopted a decision on the matter on 19 August and the decision will enter into force on 23 August. The restrictions will continue until 19 September. However, people may still enter Finland from all countries upon presenting an approved certificate of a full vaccine course.External border traffic refers to traffic between Finland and non-Schengen third countries. Restrictions on entry will be reinstated for residents of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada in traffic arriving in Finland from these countries. If a person arriving from these countries has not received a full vaccine course, the accepted reasons for entry are return travel to Finland, return travel to other EU or Schengen countries, transit on regular, scheduled flights at an airport or other essential travel.No other changes will be introduced to the restrictions on entry. Internal border control was lifted on 26 July, which means that persons arriving in Finland from the EU and Schengen countries can enter into the country without travel restrictions.See the websites below for more information on the entry restrictions and health security requirements in place.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — A working group examined how child-oriented budgeting and related expertise should be developed across government terms. The aim is to promote the realisation of children’s rights.In its Government Programme, the Government has pledged to assess the impact of its decisions on children, improve child-oriented budgeting, strengthen knowledge about child wellbeing and foster the inclusion of children and young people. At the end of 2020, the Prime Minister’s Office appointed a working group as part of the national strategy for children to examine how child-oriented budgeting and related expertise should be developed across government terms. Child-oriented budgeting means that the central government budget is examined from the perspective of the rights of the child. It involves monitoring budget expenditure and revenue allocated to children and assessing the impact of budgetary decisions on children.“We need the perspective of children in the management of public finances. We need to see across boundaries between administrative branches and administrative levels, because a good life for children is an overall package. This is why child-oriented budgeting models must be taken into account in knowledge management in both central government and in the forthcoming wellbeing services counties and from there across to municipalities. The Ministry of Finance will launch this work immediately. At the same time, I would like to note that the inclusion of children and young people is part of budgetary impact assessment at every level. Decision-makers must interact with children and young people so that we can learn more about how investments affect their everyday lives,” says Minister Annika Saarikko. According to the Committee on the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children’s rights should be taken into account at all stages of the budgetary process. However, child-oriented budgeting has so far been modest in Finland.“Examining the wellbeing of children and young people on the basis of phenomena provides an opportunity to supplement the knowledge base in budgeting. To do so, it is necessary to develop analysis across administrative boundaries with a view to making it easier to identify and make visible whole elements. However, to implement child-oriented budgeting successfully, careful planning and step-by-step progress is required to get started,” says Sami Yläoutinen, Chair of the Working Group, Director-General of the Budget Department at the Ministry of Finance.The analysis of budgeting in terms of child age groups allows child-related expenditure items to become visible as a whole in budgeting. It can also be used to highlight and solve socially difficult problems affecting children in society. “Child-oriented budgeting allows us to better identify expenditure items allocated to children. This, in turn, makes it possible to secure services that meet the needs of children and families today and in the future,” says Antti Kurvinen, Minister of Science and Culture, Chair of the Ministerial Working Group on Child and Youth Policy.The work being carried out by the working group on child-oriented budgeting is part of the implementation phase of the National Child Strategy. The working group has made proposals on how child-oriented budgeting could support the implementation of the National Child Strategy. The committee proposes thatChild-oriented budgeting be piloted in the 2022 budget proposal and that a standardised version be introduced for the 2023 budget proposal child impact analysis be carried out covering each government termmonitoring and reporting of local government (and later also of wellbeing services counties) budget outturn data be developed as a separate projectchild-oriented budgeting of municipalities and wellbeing services counties be carried out making use of networking once the health and social services reform has entered into force.The preparation of the pilot is currently under way as part of the formulation of the 2022 budget proposal. The Ministry of Finance has submitted guidelines on the preparation of the budget to the ministries. The guidelines include a description of child-oriented budgeting.During its work, the working group consulted several key stakeholders, such as the National Audit Office, the Ombudsman for Children, key parliamentary committees, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities and various other organisations. The working group also harnessed the expertise of specialists from different ministries and institutions. 

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — The number of new COVID-19 cases has remained at almost the same level as the week before. The total number of new cases reported between 9 and 15 August was 5,163, whereas in the previous week the number of new cases was 5,072. Currently, COVID-19 is spreading especially among unvaccinated young people and young adults.Out of about 142,000 COVID-19 tests administered in Finland last week, the proportion of positive samples was 3.6 per cent. The incidence of new COVID-19 cases in the last two-week period (2–15 August) was 185 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the effective basic reproduction number is currently 1.05–1.25, with a 90 per cent probability. Last week, the proportion of infections from abroad was around 9 per cent.The source of infection was traced successfully in 52 per cent of all new cases in Finland. The backlogs in contact tracing reflect the increase in the number of infections and a shortage of personnel available for tracing. It is not always possible to receive all necessary information from infected and exposed persons about other potentially exposed persons.Between 9 and 15 August, a total of 12,108 people were quarantined, which is over 2,200 people more than in the preceding week. About one fourth (24 per cent) of all new cases were reported among people already in quarantine. Some regions have reported backlogs in contact tracing and delays in placing people in isolation and quarantine. There is also a lot of regional variation in how well contacts are traced.Burden on specialised medical care increased slightlyBased on the information provided by the hospital districts, a total of 106 people were receiving hospital care due to the COVID-19 disease on 18 August 2021. Of them, 12 were inpatients in primary healthcare, 65 inpatients in specialised healthcare and 29 inpatients in intensive care. On 18 August 2021, the total number of COVID-19-related deaths since the start of the epidemic was 1,008.The overall burden on specialised healthcare has increased slightly. The need for intensive care in particular has increased over the past few weeks due to the growing number of infections. The majority of those in need of hospital care are unvaccinated. In Finland, around 69 per cent of the population have received at least their first vaccine dose and about 44 per cent of the population have received a full COVID-19 vaccine course, i.e. they have received the second vaccine dose. The vaccination of 12–15-year-olds, which started earlier in August, is progressing at pace. About 24 per cent of those belonging to this age group have already received their first vaccine dose. The epidemiological situation is monitored weekly. A report on the epidemic is published on Thursdays at 10.00.
The monitoring report on the epidemic published today and the previous reports are available on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.Monitoring coronavirus (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in Finnish and Swedish) The COVID-19 epidemic: regional situation, recommendations and restrictions (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)Coronavirus in numbers (Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa)Action plan for implementing the hybrid strategy to control the COVID-19 epidemic (Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2021:21), description sheet in EnglishEffects of the COVID-19 epidemic on wellbeing, services and the economy (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare), in FinnishProgress with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare), in Finnish and SwedishGuidelines for the controlled dismantling of restrictions and recommendations put in place due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Government memorandum 20 April 2021 (Prime Minister’s Office), in Finnish

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — Finland will provide EUR 3 million through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR to help Afghan refugees. On the World Humanitarian Day celebrated today, the crises in Afghanistan and Haiti remind us of the global humanitarian distress.In Afghanistan the need for humanitarian assistance was great already before the most recent stage of the conflict. The UN has estimated that, while in the spring about a third of the country’s population needed humanitarian assistance, now about a half of the population is in need of help. The countries neighbouring Afghanistan to which people are fleeing are also under pressure.“Based on estimates by the UN, the numbers of Afghan people who have left their homes are growing. People are fleeing both within Afghanistan and to the neighbouring countries. For example, the number of refugees coming to Iran per day is now about 5,000, which is as much as three times what it was before. It is important that Finland will also bear its responsibility for helping them,” says Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari.The need for humanitarian assistance around the world is greater than ever before. Globally, as many as 240 million people in 56 countries are in need of urgent assistance. The main causes for this are prolonged conflicts, natural disasters and extreme weather events that have been aggravated by climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic has also increased the need for assistance. The UN’s global appeal for humanitarian assistance for this year totals about EUR 30 billion.At the moment the most serious humanitarian crises are ongoing in Syria, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The conflict in Syria has continued for more than 10 years and it has driven over 13 million people away from their homes, 6.6 million of them as refugees to other countries. The conflict and drought in Yemen have caused a serious food crisis where about 20 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.“The humanitarian distress will be further aggravated by climate change. Afghanistan is one of the countries that are the most susceptible to climate change. Haiti had not recovered from the previous crisis when this new one hit. Assistance measures have been further complicated by the heavy storm and floods,” the Minister says. According to the UN, climate warming caused by human influence has almost doubled the number of natural disasters in the past 20 years. In 2019, 34 million people suffered from food shortages as a result of extreme weather events and 25 million people had to leave their homes. As many as 90% of the world’s refugees already come from countries that are the most susceptible to climate change.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will continue evacuation of Finnish citizens, permanent residents of Finland and those who have worked for the Finnish State in close cooperation with the Finnish Defence Forces and partner countries.The Foreign Ministry has sent a two-person assistance team to Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. The team arrived at Kabul Airport on Tuesday night. The task of the team is to facilitate evacuation arrangements to Finland at the airport.So far, 22 Finnish citizens have been evacuated from Afghanistan.  Today, several Finns were able to get through the gates of Kabul Airport and board international evacuation flights to various destinations.  The evacuations will continue in the coming hours and days. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs keeps in close contact with the evacuees.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — On 13 August, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health appointed a working group to prepare legislation on the COVID-19 vaccination passport. The term of the working group runs from 13 August 2021 to 30 September 2021.The Government decided on 5 August 2021 to continue preparations for introducing the COVID-19 vaccination passport. The preparations are being led by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Transport and Communications. 
 
The aim of the passport is to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 infections at gatherings between people and promote the reopening of society with special consideration for health security. The passport would allow the person to prove to other people that he or she has a reduced risk of being infectious with COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccination passport would be a reliable certificate of a full vaccination course, recovery from COVID-19, or of a recent negative COVID-19 test.Preparations are made through cooperationThe Ministry of Social Affairs and Health asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of the Environment to provide information by 16 August 2021 regarding the situations or events in their branches of government where the passport would be used. The Ministries have now submitted the information requested. The working group supports the Ministries in their preparatory work. In addition to the law drafting project concerning the COVID-19 vaccination passport, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health will launch a project on the technical implementation of the passport.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — This week, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has released a non-return advisory calling for all countries to suspend the return of Afghan nationals to their country of origin. The advisory also applies to the return of asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected. Finland has followed this policy for several weeks now.According to the Government Programme, Finland is committed to continuing cooperation to ensure that the policies of the authorities concerning the situation of key countries of origin and the internal protection alternative are in line with the recommendations of the UN Refugee Agency.“The Finnish authorities have closely monitored the development of the security situation in Afghanistan. In July, Finland was one of the first countries to react to the matter and, in practice, suspended returns to Afghanistan,” says Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo.On 9 July, the Finnish Immigration Service suspended decision-making processes leading to a negative decision based on which a person would be returned to Afghanistan. This will continue until the Finnish Immigration Service has assessed the security situation in Afghanistan and reviewed policy guidelines on the country. Decision-making on positive cases will continue, and new country information and the prevailing situation will also be taken into account when assessing the conditions for granting asylum.In Finland, returns of foreign nationals are carried out by the police. Following the decision of the Finnish Immigration Service, the National Police Board decided that returns to Afghanistan would be postponed, and that no further returns would be prepared until the Finnish Immigration Service has finalised its assessment and reviewed the country guidelines.“Finland, like all EU countries, complies with the principle of non-refoulement included in international human rights treaties and also in our Constitution and the Aliens Act. No one should be returned to an area where they would face death penalty, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm. At the moment, the situation in Afghanistan is extremely serious, and human distress in the region is great,” says Minister Ohisalo.The development of the security situation in Afghanistan is closely monitored both in Finland and at EU level. Last week, the Government decided that Finland will receive 170 people from Afghanistan. This quota includes Afghans, and their families, who have worked for the authorities.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi