A leading virologist has told Yle that people in Finland should not be overly concerned about the spread of the Indian variant of the coronavirus.
The variant was behind a serious cluster of infections in healthcare facilities in Kanta-Häme and has also contributed to the worsening epidemic situation in Central Ostrobothnia.
Despite this, experts say that the spread of the variant can be stopped with measures already in place.
The Indian variant of the virus is believed to be more contagious than the original strain or other variants in circulation.
"If the virus is more contagious then it can be contracted with briefer contact and possibly from a greater distance than previous virus strains," explained Ilkka Julkkunen, a virologist at Turku University.
Upgraded mask recommendation
Some infections in Kanta-Häme are known to have occurred in medical staff who were wearing surgical masks. Julkkunen said nursing staff should use more robust FFP2 or FFP3 respirators.
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has updated its advice for long-term and institutional carers to include a recommendation to use the higher-grade respirators.
"The advice is not being changed on account of the Indian variant. Today's change is not in itself related to the variant but to a decision made for this spring as a whole. We consider in principle that the existing anti-infection measures are sufficient for the Indian variant at this stage," said THL research director Otto Helve.
Vaccines effective
While many of the patients infected in the Kanta-Häme clusters had received one or two doses of the coronavirus vaccine, the experts Yle spoke to believe the currently available vaccines perform well against the Indian variant.
"It is good to remember that no vaccine is 100 percent effective. Even those who have received a full set of vaccinations have the potential to be infected. But the risk of serious infection is clearly lower in those who have received two vaccinations. According to current data, this also applies to the Indian variant," Helve said.
Julkkunen's research team has been studying the effectiveness of vaccines on both the British and South African variants of the virus. Their findings show that vaccines are just as effective against the British variant as they are against the original coronavirus strain.
However, the vaccines currently in use are estimated to be one-fifth as effective against the South African and Brazilian variants of the virus. The Indian variant shares one mutation with these variants, so it is estimated the vaccines will may not be as effective against it.
"The vaccines are slightly less effective than against the original, but better than against the South African variant," Julkkunen said.
Julkkunen stressed that even if the variant were slightly more resistant to the protections given by vaccination, it is still sufficient.
"Personally I would not be hugely concerned about this variant. Vaccine coverage is already so good and the vaccine programme is progressing well, leaving less and less opportunity for the virus to infect," he said.
According to THL, over 60 cases of coronavirus linked to the Indian variant have been identified in Finland. It is likely there have been more cases than that, as only a small proportion of positive cases undergo the genetic sequencing needed to determine the strain of the virus responsible.
"It's a relief that we have examples of currently in place infection control measures being able to suppress situations where the Indian variant has clearly been involved," said Otto Helve.
According to Julkkunen, the variant could become more prevalent in Finland if it is not eradicated. The majority of Finnish coronavirus cases so far have been of the British variant of the virus.
"If the fight against the epidemic does not succeed, the Indian variant may take over and there could be spikes in the epidemic. Caution should be taken," Julkkunen said.