The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said on Thursday that people whose native language is other than Finnish or Swedish are over-represented in new coronavirus cases, and that their share has risen significantly since last year.
Foreign language speakers have accounted for 31.3 percent of all those infected so far in March, ministry officials said at a press conference and in slides published online (only in Finnish).
Last September they accounted for 19.2 of all new cases, with their share rising to 26.8 percent by December. In January their share dipped slightly to 26.4 percent but rose again in February and March.
The apparent decline in January may be due to the fact that the proportion of the population whose mother tongue was listed as unknown was significantly higher that month, 9.9 percent compared to between 5.7 and 8.7 percent in the other months since September.
The share of new cases among native speakers of Finnish or Swedish rose slightly in December to 66.2 percent, but otherwise has declined steadily since September.
Salminen: Covid app should be available in more languages
A survey conducted by THL indicates that residents who are less fluent in Finnish or Swedish feel that they have received less information about the epidemic. However, the study suggested that the differences were slight, and most people felt that they have received sufficient information.
Most people from all demographic groups who responded to the survey said that they generally complied with coronavirus restrictions and recommendations.
However, foreign language speakers were slightly less likely to say they observed precautions such as wearing masks, avoiding unnecessary travel, avoiding shaking hands and using the Koronavilkku contact tracing app, developed by the THL.
At a press conference on Thursday, THL Director of Health Security Mika Salminen suggested that Koronavilkku should be updated to enable use in more languages. So far it is only available in Finnish, Swedish and English.
More foreign language speakers in service jobs
According to Salminen, the biggest causes of increased infections among foreign language speakers are living and working conditions. For example, many are in service professions while most cannot work remotely or always maintain social distancing and hand hygiene. Only one third said they can work remotely.
Salminen said he believes that more mobile testing and vaccination points are needed to resolve the situation.
According to an THL statement on Thursday, "there is still a need for multi-lingual and multi-channel communications and advice" regarding the pandemic.
Yle presents the latest news about Covid-19 in Arabic, Somali, Kurdish and Persian on TV1 and Areena. There is also radio news in English as well as the Finnish Roma and Karelian languages.
Less than 2% of cases acquired abroad
Salminen also said there was room for improvement in border security regarding Covid-19.
The ministry said on Thursday that 1.7 percent of new infections during the 8-14 March period were acquired abroad, while other infections traced to these accounted for less than one percent of all new cases.
As of Thursday, 18 March 2021 passengers arriving to Finland from most countries face compulsory health checks at Helsinki Airport, Helsinki ports and the Vaalimaa crossing point on the Russian border.
14:55 Added link to Ministry slides