Finnish health officials said on Thursday that the coronavirus epidemic was on an upward trend.
"Virus infections are unfortunately rising," said Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki of the Ministry for Health and Social Affairs at a joint briefing with the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
Officials said the overall situation was stable, but there was large regional variation. According to figures provided on Wednesday, seven regions in Finland are at an 'acceleration stage' in the pandemic: Uusimaa, Kanta-Häme, Länsi-Pohja, Pirkanmaa, Vaasa, Åland and South-West Finland.
The other 14 hospital districts are at the 'base' level in Finland's coronavirus classification system, although the cities of Kouvola, Kuopio, Oulu and Rovaniemi are at an acceleration stage even though their wider regions are not.
Finland's epidemic management strategy is based on a three-phase classification based on case numbers and other data.
The base situation is the lowest level, with the fewest numbers of cases, with acceleration in the middle and the 'spreading' phase for those regions where the virus is spreading more widely in the community.
Infections most common among the young
Infections remain most common among younger age groups, with almost 80 percent of confirmed cases reported last week occurring among the under-50s and nearly half among the under-30s.
The share of over-60s among those infected was below 10 percent and the over-70s were responsible for only a few percent of cases.
"Protection of risk groups is important, because the number of elderly needing hospital care is rising although the number of infections among the over-70s is not," said Voipio-Pulkki.
Reducing close contacts is important for everyone, including those who regard themselves as healthy, according to Voipio-Pulkki.
Source of 60% of cases known
Contact tracing has improved in recent weeks, with the source of around 60 percent of coronavirus infections now known.
Around 60 percent of infections that are traced come from family members. Around 10-15 percent come from other contacts and private gatherings, workplaces are responsible for around 10 percent and hobbies for roughly eight percent.
Educational settings were the scene of only eight percent of traced infections, despite several recent large-scale exposures.
There have been several hundred exposure events in daycare settings, but only around 15 percent had caused onward infections, according to Emmi Sarvikivi of THL.
