Finnish public health officials stressed on Thursday that the current “strong recommendation” from government is for people not to travel for leisure in Finland.
"This is something that the government should advise on separately. Currently, the strong recommendation is for people not to travel domestically," said Kirsi Varhila, permanent secretary of the Social Affairs and Health Ministry (MSAH).
Speaking during a regular update on the coronavirus situation in Finland, public health officials stressed that there is still the risk of falling ill seriously as a result of infection with Covid-19 and that the epidemic could pick up pace again.
"The strong recommendation is that it is still not advised to travel abroad except for essential reasons. The point we have reached is the result of the actions of all Finns. We have to continue," said Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare health security division head Mika Salminen.
The advice is likely to deal a further blow to the tourism sector, which has seen demand fall by up to 70 percent this year, representing 10 billion euros.
Additionally, new data from Statistics Finland on Thursday showed that overnight stays in Lapland collapsed by 92 percent in April compared to one year earlier. Overnight stays in Helsinki fell by a similar margin and nationwide the corresponding figure was 88 percent.
Regional approach poses legal problems
Meanwhile Varhila said that it is possible that current emergency measures in place to slow the spread of the epidemic could be rolled back on a regional basis.
"Our starting point is a unified national policy, but with time when we gather information and evidence about how the epidemic is developing in different areas, we could apply restrictions regionally," she noted.
She added that this would however create juridical problems relating to equality, since everyone should have the same basic rights.
"If one area is in bad shape, should others suffer is a question that is necessarily assessed continually," Varhila said.
The permanent secretary said that possible regional restrictions would need to be justified.
"When we dismantle restrictions gradually and in many sectors, we need to be very precise about the impact on the epidemic and its progress," she explained.
Epidemic slowing in Finland
According to the THL, the epidemic has continued to slow in Finland. Current figures indicated that about 6,700 people have so far tested positive for the virus.
"The decline has been very clear for the past month," the THL’s Salminen told journalists, adding that compared to Estonia and other Nordic countries the situation “is not terribly bad”. Additionally, the number of new cases has halved in two weeks and the infection rate has fallen below one, he noted.
Meanwhile the health ministry said that the situation with regard to personal protective equipment (PPE) has improved.
"If we were to use protective gear in all of our social and health services, we would need 2.5 million [sets] per day," Varhila said.
The National Emergency Supply Agency (Nesa) is currently in the process of acquiring 100 million euros worth of additional protective equipment.