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HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Limits on public gatherings will be tightened in the Finnish capital as the country’s infection rates hit a new daily high, health chiefs said on Thursday. Despite enjoying some of Europe’s lowest incidence rates during much of the pandemic, cases in Finland have been surging in recent weeks, with a record 1,024 new infections on Wednesday, public health agency THL said. The Nordic nation of 5.5 million has so far recorded […]
by Sam KINGSLEY PUUMALA, United States (AFP) — The serene, icy waters of Finland’s Lake Saimaa are a boon to fishermen and tourists, but their presence also threatens one of the world’s rarest and most endangered seals. Despite seeing numbers recover in recent decades, the Saimaa ringed seal still faces extinction amid climate change and die-hard fishing habits. Out on Saimaa, a dark grey, whiskered creature pops its head up and breaks the surface in […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Crowds gathered in the capitals of Finland and Sweden on Saturday as hundreds marched in protest over their governments’ measures to limit the spread of Covid-19. A protest in Helsinki that drew around 300 participants resulted in about 50 arrests, Finnish police tweeted. Organisers of the event in the centre of the capital announced there would be only six participants, the current limit on public gatherings due to the pandemic. Those […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Finland could start lifting coronavirus curbs on businesses and youth activities from next week but borders will stay closed to tourists for at least the coming months, ministers said on Wednesday after agreeing an “exit plan”. A decision to lift the state of emergency, which allows the government to shut businesses and restrict movement, could be made next week “if the situation continues improving,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin told a press […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Finland on Monday activated emergency powers as the government prepared to introduce tougher restrictions to stem a rising tide of coronavirus infections. Prime Minister Sanna Marin signalled the move was imminent last week when she warned that controls limiting restaurants to takeaway service would come into force for three weeks from March 8 in some parts of the country. “The government along with the President of the Republic has declared a […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — The spread of the novel coronavirus is accelerating in Finland, health officials said Thursday, with new containment measures to be unveiled next week. According to new estimates, the reproduction rate of the virus has now risen above 1, to between 1.1 and 1.4, the health ministry’s strategic director Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki told a press conference in the capital Helsinki. “The situation is extremely delicate,” Voipio-Pulkki said, adding that “some sort of second […]
by Sam KINGSLEY Agence France Presse HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Finnish school children began returning to class on Thursday after eight weeks of coronavirus lockdown despite warnings from the teacher’s union it may not be totally safe for staff or children. The reopenings see pupils back at school for just over two weeks before the summer holidays begin in early June, with strict social distancing rules in place. Break times will be staggered to […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Children in Finland will begin to return to class from May 14 as the country starts to lift coronavirus restrictions, ministers said on Wednesday. “Based on the advice of epidemiologists, continuing the emergency restrictions on early and primary education is no longer justified,” prime minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday. Children will be instructed to follow social distancing guidelines at schools once teaching resumes, education minister Li Andersson said, with break […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Good cheer may feel in short supply as the world reels under a global pandemic, but experts at the United Nations on Friday declared Finland to be the world’s happiest nation for the third year running. Researchers for the World Happiness Report asked people in 156 countries to evaluate their own levels of happiness and took into account measures such as GDP, social support, personal freedom and levels of corruption to […]
by Sam KINGSLEY HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — A man armed with a bladed weapon attacked students at a vocational college in eastern Finland on Tuesday, killing one person in an attack that left ten injured, including a police officer, police said. Witnesses said a young man with a sword burst into a classroom. Police have yet to establish a motive for the attack. Emergency services were called to Savo Vocational College, situated in the Herman […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday accused four Nordic countries renowned as bastions of gender equality of having “shockingly high levels of rape” and of failing the victims. An Amnesty report looked at rape cases in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and said flawed legislation, harmful myths and gender stereotypes had resulted in “endemic impunity” for perpetrators. “It is a paradox that Nordic countries, which have strong records of upholding […]
Finland ranked as the world’s happiest country for the second year running while war-torn South Sudan sank to the least contented in a United Nations report released on Wednesday. The Nordic nation of 5.5 million people, known for their love of forests, lakes and saunas, topped the study which used survey data asking citizens in 156 countries how happy they perceive themselves to be, as well as measures such as life expectancy, income and social […]
