There would be room for improvement in how authorities in Finland dealt with the first stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report published on Wednesday by an independent team that worked alongside the Safety Investigation Authority.
The team's probe was prompted by a request from the government.
Among other things, the investigators reviewed how authorities handled the first several months of the crisis until July 2020. The team examined how public administrators and other bodies initially responded to the pandemic's growing global threat, what measures were taken as well as how well inter-agency communications were conducted.
The investigators also looked at the country's preparedness, its laws and regulations as well as how officials communicated with the general public.
To reach their conclusions, the team contacted more than 80 official organisations and bodies, consulting with about 150 people.
The team's probe revealed shortcomings in the country's crisis management model and also found problems in communication between national and local authorities and officials.
A dozen recommendations
The group issued a total of 12 recommendations regarding national security, the most important of which concern development of the state's crisis management system, flow of information as well as boosting the country's preparedness level.
"Leadership was not organiaed according to the leadership model described in the Security Strategy for Society, which caused certain issues. The model should be developed in light of the experiences gained," the head safety investigator, Kai Valonen, said in a statement.
The team also recommended that Finland needed to develop a mechanism which would be able to audit and support preparedness at the national, regional and municipal level. It said there were shortcomings related to continuity, noting that preparation plans among many organisations were incomplete and were not updated.
In that regard investigators pointed at a national pandemic plan that was drafted in 2012 but only applied to an influenza pandemic.
"The Safety Investigation Authority will monitor the implementation of the recommendations. We will contact the recipients of the recommendations regularly to enquire about the measures they have taken. The results will be published on the Safety Investigation Authority Finland's website," Valonen said.
A full summary of the group's findings will be issued in English at a later date.