Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Alarming increase in infections among older adults

The number of new coronavirus infections is still at a high level, and community transmission is common in different age groups across Finland. It is alarming that more and more infections are found in older age groups and that there is a clear increase in the number of patients in need of hospital care.

There will be a few weeks delay before we see the impact of the stringent recommendations and restrictions introduced by regions in recent weeks.

The positive news is that the more than month-long rapid increase in the number of new cases and incidence has slowed down slightly over the past three weeks. Between 7 and 13 December, a total of 2894 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, showing a decrease of 112 cases from the previous week. The incidence of new cases was 52 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the previous week it was 54.

The total number of new cases in the last two-week period (30 November–13 December) was 5900, which was 179 cases more than in the preceding two-week period. The incidence of new cases was 106 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the preceding two-week period it was 103.

The area of the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa accounted for more than half of the cases and had a weekly average of around 1600 new cases of COVID-19 during the past three weeks.

Currently, the estimated basic reproduction number is 0.85–1.05, with a 90 per cent probability.

Alarming development among older age groups

While the majority of new cases are still found in younger age groups and in working-age adults, alarming changes can be seen in the age distribution of COVID-19 infections. The proportion of older age groups has grown since early November. 

During the period of 7–13 December, people under 50 years of age accounted for around 72 per cent of all cases and people under 30 years of age for around 40 per cent of the cases. The percentages are the same as in the previous week. 

The trend is a little upward among people over 60 and 70 years of age: people over 60 account now for over 15 per cent of new cases and people over 70 for nearly nine per cent. People over 70 years of age are a high-risk group because of their age. It is important to protect those at risk to prevent serious cases of the COVID-19 disease.

On 16 December 2020, a total of 268 patients were receiving hospital care due to the COVID-19 disease, and 34 of them were in intensive care. All catchment areas for highly specialised medical care had patients in intensive care. There were 103 inpatients in specialised medical care and 131 in primary healthcare. 

Small drop in the number of mass exposures

During the period of 7–13 December, there was a slight drop in the number of mass exposures in leisure activities, food and beverage service businesses and public events, indicating that the restrictions and recommendations are working. Nevertheless, the number of mass exposures remained high in nearly all hospital districts, which puts a strain on the efforts to trace infections.

Healthcare and social welfare settings accounted for about ten per cent of all mass exposures, and private parties for about four per cent.

Although more than one in three mass exposures were found in educational institutions and one in five in early childhood education and care, they rarely resulted in further transmission. Only about four per cent of all traced infections were associated with educational institutions and two per cent with early childhood education and care during the period of 7–13 December.

Tracing of infection perseveres

In the whole of Finland, the source of infection was traced in about 60 per cent of all new cases in the period of 7–13 December, showing little change on the preceding week. The Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa traced the source of infection in about half of new cases in the area.

At national level, about half of all cases with a known source of infection were household transmissions. Around 15 per cent of cases were traced to workplaces, two per cent to leisure activities and one per cent to businesses serving food or beverages.

On 16 December, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Finland stood at 31,870. There have been 473 deaths related to the disease. It is estimated that about 22,500 people, which is over 70 per cent of all confirmed cases, have recovered from the disease.

The monitoring report on the epidemic published today and the previous reports are available on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare:

• Monitoring coronavirus (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in Finnish and Swedish)
• COVID-19 epidemic: regional situations, recommendations and restrictions (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)
• Coronavirus in numbers (Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa)
• Action plan for implementing recommendations and restrictive measures under the hybrid strategy following the first phase of the COVID-19 epidemic (Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2020:26, description sheet available in English)

Inquiries:

Taneli Puumalainen, Chief Physician, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, [email protected] (development of the epidemic)
Kari Auranen, Senior Researcher, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, [email protected] (projection models) 
Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki, Strategic Director, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, [email protected] (situational picture and modelling group)