Norway and Finland will then begin to lift the restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the Omicron strain, with the intention of lifting all restrictions in early March, Prime Minister Sana Marin told reporters today.
Strict restrictions imposed after Christmas forced many restaurants as well as cultural and sports venues to suspend their staff and postpone events.
The government now plans to allow restaurants to remain open until midnight and lift restrictions on public gatherings from February 14, Marin said, adding that the goal is to lift all restrictions early next month.
Marin said hospital numbers have stabilized and are even showing signs of declining.
She said the restrictions needed to remain in place for another two weeks so that the government could monitor the outbreak in neighboring Norway and Denmark.
“Quite simply because Finland is epidemiologically about two weeks behind other countries,” Marin said.
The government plans to formally withdraw the COVID-19 ‘passport’ it used from mid-October to the end of December, which allowed only vaccinated or people with a recent negative test to enter public places.
Despite the high number of cases in the days around New Year, Finland remains among the countries least affected by the pandemic. To date, the country of 5.5 million people has recorded 501,152 cases, 2,012 deaths, while 655 people have been hospitalized due to COVID-19.
It is recalled that Denmark has already lifted all restrictive measures due to Covid-19, being the first EU country to do so.
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