Summary: Administering a mix of different types of vaccine may also improve protection against Covid-19, the European Medicines Agency says.

Finnish public health authorities will consider next week whether to speed up the pace of Covid-19 booster vaccinations, according to Chief Physician  Hanna Nohynek  of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
 Last week the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that states may consider a three-month vaccination interval between the second and third dose, although the EMA's official recommendation is still six months.
 Finnish officials have recommended an interval of at least six months between the second and third doses.
 "The protective efficacy of the vaccine against severe coronavirus remains very good for at least six months, except in the very elderly and others in risk groups. In that sense, 5-6 months is a very good vaccination interval to prevent severe Covid. However, if you want to increase protection against Omicron-borne transmission infections, which have so far been largely mild, then a three-month vaccination interval is possible," Nohynek suggested.
 She notes that there are now four million people in Finland who have had their second Covid jab three or more months ago.
 "There aren't – and won't be – four million doses of vaccine available in Finland in the short term. So we need to look at what is logistically possible, where the doses and the workforce of vaccine providers are sufficient," Nohynek told Yle.
 Article continues after photo
 THL Chief Physician Hanna Nohynek Anna Savonius / Yle
 Is an Omicron vaccine necessary?
 Although the recent Omicron variant appears to be able to circumvent vaccine protection better than the still-dominant Delta variant, there has also been encouraging news about the new strain, she said.
 "Omicron-induced illnesses have been a mild form of the illness, at least according to preliminary data. Even two doses of the vaccine are likely to protect against a serious form of the illness," she said.
 According to Nohynek, recent research from Britain indicates that none of the nearly 600 confirmed Omicron infections had led to serious illness requiring hospitalisation.
 According to Nohynek, this raises the question of whether a separate Omicron vaccine is absolutely necessary.
 "Based on those results, current vaccines also provide significant protection against Omicron," she said.
 According to Nohynek, even two doses of the vaccine are likely to protect against serious forms of the illness.
 Cross-vaccination makes sense
 According to Nohynek, it is also relevant whether someone receives the same vaccine each time or not.
 On Tuesday  the EMA said  that using a third dose of a different Covid vaccine as a booster 3-6 months after a primary vaccination course, known as heterologous boosting, "may offer flexibility in terms of vaccination options".
 According to the agency, preliminary research indicates that a combination of viral vector vaccines (such as the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines) and mRNA vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna) "produces good levels of antibodies against the Covid-19 virus and a higher T-cell response than using the same vaccine (homologous vaccination) whether in a primary or booster regimen".
 Nohynek agrees, saying that "administering three coronavirus shots with a different vaccine each time would appear to improve protection, especially after an initial dose of AstraZeneca. The protective effect is improved by cross-vaccination," she explained.
 However, according to Nohynek, it seems that cross-vaccination may slightly increase short-term side effects.
 "These appear to be symptoms that are typical of the side effects of the last vaccine. In Finland, quite a number of people have already received cross-vaccination, as some who received AstraZeneca as their first dose were switched to Pfizer or Moderna for the second shot," she said.
 Around 100,000 people in Finland — mainly individuals in risk groups — received AstraZeneca jabs before news of rare side effects emerged.

Finland considers shorter interval before Covid boosters


Summary: Photos show two locomotives crushed together nose-to-nose, with significant damage to at least one of them.

Two VR Pendolino trains collided at Tampere railway station around midday on Sunday. VR communications manager  Janna Viisterä  said that there were no passengers aboard at the time of the collision.
 "The collision did not cause any injuries," she told Yle.
 According to Viisterä, the collision occurred when the trains were being moved around in the rail yard.
 Reader photos published by Tampere newspaper  Aamulehti  showed two locomotives crushed together nose-to-nose, with clearly significant damage to at least one of them.
 Viisterä predicted that the impact on rail traffic would be minor.
 The morning train connection from Tampere to Turku was cancelled, as was a Turku-Tampere trip scheduled to depart at 3:10pm.
 One Pendolino may be replaced with slower InterCity (IC) equipment.
 Changes may be made to the Tampere-Helsinki trip departing 5:04pm, but according to Viisterä said this had not yet been confirmed.
 Reliability issues
 VR has operated Italian-designed Pendolino 'tilting trains' since 1995. In Finland, they operate at a maximum speed of 220 km/h.
 VR's Pendolino have suffered from reliability issues, particularly in cold weather.
 Earlier on Sunday, before the Tampere mishap,  VR announced  that the Pendolino from Helsinki to Lappeenranta at 1:56pm was cancelled due to a technical problem, as was the return from Lappeenranta to the capital at 4:22pm.

Two Pendolino trains collide in Tampere, delays likely


Summary: Train traffic between Finland and Russia, which has been on hiatus since spring 2020, re-started on Sunday.

The first Allegro train to Helsinki in more than a year and a half departed St. Petersburg's Finland Station on Sunday morning, accompanied by a Russian railway brass band. Despite the festive atmosphere, only a few dozen passengers boarded.
 Train traffic between Finland and Russia was suspended at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. Traffic has still not returned to normal.
 The Allegro now has two departures daily in each direction, down from four before the pandemic.
 Passenger numbers are still limited by Covid travel restrictions. Finnish rail operator VR said it expects the train to mostly carry business travellers in the near future.
 Few Russians have EU or WHO-approved vaccinations
 Currently, only Finnish and Russian citizens are allowed to travel on the train. Most Russians are only allowed to enter Finland for essential reasons, including family visits.
 There are exceptions for Russians who have received either an EU or WHO-approved Covid vaccine, but there are very few such individuals. Neither organisation has yet approved Sputnik or other vaccines administered in Russia.
 Tourism is also restricted by the use of Covid passports, which are widely used in both countries. The EU and Russia have not recognised each other's Covid passes.
 Finns are allowed to travel freely to Russia on the Allegro if they have a visa and a negative Covid test result from within the previous two days.
 Passengers must wear masks during the three-and-a-half-hour journey.

Few passengers as rail service between Finland and Russia resumes


Summary: Health officials are reported to be urging increasingly tough measures to deal with the surge in coronavirus infections in Finland.

The tabloid  Iltalehti reports  that  Pasi Pohjola , Strategy Director of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, says that the key criteria have already been met for the government to impose new stringent measures to fight the spread of coronavirus, measures being referred to as an " emergency brake ".
 "Yes, the key criteria have already been met, but at least for the next week we should monitor the impact of the stricter restrictive measures recently imposed in different regions," Pohjola told Iltalehti by email on Sunday.
 Simply put, the use of an emergency brake would mean further tightening restrictive measures to the extent the law allows.
 According to Pohjola, these measures could include even tighter restrictions on public events as well as limits on the number of passengers on public transport and the closure of some facilities.
 He also pointed out that in some cases, not even the requirement for a Covid pass would allow for the organisation of gatherings.
 The paper notes that Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services  Krista Kiuru  (SDP) said at a press conference on Friday that vaccinations, testing and tracing must be intensified in order to manage the situation.
 Lasse Lehtonen , Director of Diagnostic Services at Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) considered the plan presented at the press conference unrealistic. According to Lehtonen, increasing testing and tracing capacity is "beautiful as an idea," but since only about 30 percent of coronavirus-positive cases can be traced, investing resources in tracing at this stage will no longer change the course of the pandemic.
 Pasi Pohjola was unable to tell Iltalehti whether or not restrictions will be tightened before Christmas.
 "It is still to be seen what actions will be taken and when, and whether the restrictive measures already taken are working well enough," Pohjola said.
 Students' mental health
 The daily  Helsingin Sanomat  is among the papers reporting a new study by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) showing that one out of three university student suffers from  symptoms of anxiety or depression .
 These symptoms were found to be more prevalent among female students than in men. As many as 40 percent of women said they were suffering from the effects of stress.
 More than 6,000 students from universities and colleges responded to the survey conducted last spring.
 The coronavirus pandemic alone cannot be blamed for the results though as, according to THL research professor  Jaana Suvisaari , similar studies carried out every 4–5 years have show an upward trend in mental health issues since the start of the 2000s.
 The majority of higher education institutions are still in part using distance learning. Loneliness combined with independent study can increase anxiety and depression.
 Suvisaari speculates that some of these symptoms will fade as the coronavirus situation eases over time and everyday life returns to normal. On the other hand, some students may have underlying mental health issues that if prolonged, may lead to loss of ability to focus on their studies.
 Olli Rehn leads presidential poll
 The Governor of the Bank of Finland,  Olli Rehn  (Cen), is the most popular potential candidate for Finland's next president, according to a poll commissioned and published by the farmers' union paper  Maadeudun Tulevaisuus .
 Rehn, who polled 19 percent in the survey would be the most popular candidate among both National Coalition and Centre Party voters.
 The second most popular figure is Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  (Green) with 14 percent support. His backing was found to be strongest among voters who support the Greens, the SDP and the Left Alliance.
 Support for Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) was pegged at 9 percent, most of it coming from members of her own Social Democratic Party. The paper notes, however, that the poll was carried out early this month when Marin was at  the centre of a media storm  related to a social outing after possible exposure to the coronavirus.
 The poll which collected 1,001 responses was conducted by Kantar TNS Agri and has a three percentage point margin of error.
 Playing the ponies
 Jyväskylä's  Keskisuomalainen  carries a syndicated report that horse racing has become a bigger sport for gamblers in Finland than either football or ice hockey.
 The popularity of "Toto" betting on trotting races was in decline before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but got a new lease of life when neighbouring Sweden continued to hold horse races even while other sporting events had been canceled.
 Juha-Matti Mäkilä , betting director of the Finnish national gaming agency Veikkaus told the paper that horse racing has shot up in the number of bets placed, as well as the total value of bets.
 The majority of sports gaming in Finland today, around 80 percent, takes place online.

Monday's papers: Time for emergency brake, presidential poll, playing the ponies


Summary: The key criteria for the introduction of the emergency brake have already been met, according to a Ministry of Social Affairs and Health official.

There has been much discussion in Finland in recent weeks about the possible introduction of an "emergency brake" to stem the spread of coronavirus infections, in particular since the  detection of the Omicron variant  at the beginning of December.
 The brake may be applied sooner rather than later, as  Pasi Pohjola , Strategy Director of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health,  told tabloid Iltalehti  that the key criteria have already been met.
 "Yes, the key criteria have already been met, but at least for the next week we should monitor the impact of the stricter restrictive measures recently imposed in different regions," Pohjola told Iltalehti by email on Sunday, adding that the effects of the current measures should be clear by the end of this week.
 Meanwhile a cross-ministerial group of civil servants is currently considering how existing restrictions could be further tightened or new measures introduced under the emergency brake to fight the spread of infections.
 According to Yle's information, the emergency brake could apply to five main areas.
 1) Further tightening of restrictions on public gatherings
 In a statement released over the weekend, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said that "low-risk activities" could also be targeted by restrictions on public gatherings.
 In practice, this could mean limits on the number of people in staff canteens, cinemas, shopping malls or religious gatherings, which public health authority THL said it considers to be low-risk situations for the spreading of the virus.
 The ministry added that if the coronavirus situation deteriorates even further, it would no longer be possible to circumvent the restrictions with a Covid passport, meaning the measures would also apply to fully-vaccinated people.
 2) Primary schools may switch to remote learning
 Finland's government has said continually throughout the pandemic that there is a high threshold for switching schoolchildren to remote learning, as the move could have a serious impact on kids' well-being.
 However, applying the emergency brake would make it possible to introduce remote learning locally and regionally if it is considered by authorities to be a necessary and proportionate measure.
 A remote learning mandate could apply to primary, lower secondary or high school students.
 3) Tightening existing restrictions
 The emergency brake could also see the tightening of currently existing restrictions, especially in regions where hospital and ICU capacity is under pressure.
 On mainland Finland, there are five areas of special responsibility that form around a university hospital, and restrictions could be extended if authorities decide that capacity is being stretched.
 The most acute situation with regard to intensive care capacity is currently at Oulu University Hospital, but nationwide there is still currently enough capacity.
 4) Closer control of borders
 According to Yle's sources, the cross-ministerial group has also looked at possible changes to Finland's border controls.
 This could mean that the Covid passport alone would not be sufficient for a person to enter the country, but each incoming passenger would be required to provide evidence of two negative Covid test results as well.
 This measure would especially be aimed at preventing the spread of the Omicron variant in Finland.
 5) Other changes
 The ministries are also considering a variety of other measures under the emergency brake, but their introduction, and extent, would be left to local and regional authorities.
 One option, considered a "last resort", would be to declare a state of emergency — as Finland's government  did in the spring  — in order to allow the use of emergency powers legislation.

Finland mulls "emergency brake": Tighter restrictions, border tests, remote learning all on table


Summary: Each December 13, residents of Europe’s north crown a modern-day light-bringer on St. Lucia’s Day, one of the few saint’s days observed in the Nordics.

Finland's Lucia this year is  Tilde Polviander  from the capital of the Åland Islands, Mariehamn. She will be officially crowned in Helsinki's Lutheran Cathedral on Monday evening.
 The church is open to the public, but space is limited. Participants will be required to present a Covid pass at the door.
 The traditional Lucia procession through the centre of Helsinki, a spectacle which regularly attracts tens of thousands of people, has been cancelled however, for the second year in a row, due to the coronavirus situation.
 Saint Lucia Day has Catholic and Orthodox roots and is celebrated across Finland, especially in Swedish-speaking communities.
 Each year, a young woman is chosen by public vote to don a wreath carrying live candles in a ceremony at Helsinki's Lutheran Cathedral.
 Many towns and cities choose their own local Lucia, and the day is celebrated in many child daycare centres and schools, especially in those where Swedish is the main language of instruction.
 The coronation of this year's Lucia at Helsinki's Lutheran Cathedral will be  streamed live on Yle Areena , beginning at 5pm local time.

St Lucia Day - Light amidst the winter gloom


Summary: Higher costs are being seen by people living in both single-family homes and in apartments.

More than half of Finland's residents are worried about the impact higher energy prices will have on their housing costs, says Nordea Bank.
 According to the results of a survey commissioned by Nordea, 58 percent of respondents voiced concerns about energy prices. One in four said rising energy prices are making it harder for them to to cope with their housing costs.
 In April – June, property maintenance costs rose by 2.1 percent year-on-year, but the pace is projected to have accelerated towards the end of the year.
 "The recent rise in the prices of electricity, district heating, oil and renovations will be clearly seen in a more rapid rise in housing costs towards the end of the year. Owners of single-family homes are seeing higher energy prices directly in power utility bills, and people living in housing companies will get an unpleasant surprise at next spring's Annual General Meeting at the latest, when maintenance fees may have to be increased," says Nordea economist  Juho Kostiainen .
 More energy renovations
 According to Nordea, 28 percent of homes in Finland have either undergone or have planned energy renovations. Kostiainen pointed out that about 30 percent of climate emissions in the country are related to housing.
 "Energy solutions for housing are of considerable importance for Finland's carbon neutrality goal," Kostiainen noted.
 The Nordea survey, which received over 1,000 responses, was conducted by Kantar TNS in November.

Nordea Group survey: Majority worried about impact of energy prices on housing costs


Summary: The jabs will first go to children belonging to risk groups, with a broader roll-out not expected until next year.

As the first Comirnaty Covid vaccine shipments arrive in Finland, the vaccination of children 5-11 years of age who belong to risk groups is expected to begin this week, according to the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
 Chief Specialist at THL,  Mia Kontio , said 162,000 Covid vaccine doses for children will arrive in Finland this week, with the next delivery of 78,000 expected to arrive during the first week of next year. Kontio said decisions about additional shipments have not yet been reached.
 The agency has not formally recommended vaccinations for those in the 5-11 age bracket who do not belong to a risk group, as plans for their vaccinations will be rolled out in January at the earliest.
 The THL has however recommended vaccinations for 5-11 year-olds who live with immunocompromised individuals, but a broader rollout of vaccinations for kids not belonging to risk groups cannot begin until legislation about voluntary Covid vaccinations is amended.
 Health authorities are awaiting further information about the safety of Covid vaccinations for kids in the age group, particularly about possible rare side effects.
 According to THL's chief physician  Hanna Nohynek , vaccine doses will be distributed to municipalities as they arrive in Finland, with decisions on administering the doses to be made at the local level.
 Pfizer-BioNTech
 Youngsters are to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine Comirnaty, according to Kontio.
 "Vaccinations for children need to be distributed in a way that does not delay the vaccinations of the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, Kontio noted in an agency statement earlier this month.
 The THL has roughly estimated that if children between the ages of 5-11 are not vaccinated, between 20-40 percent of the entire age group would be infected with coronavirus by the end of March next year, depending on the severity of the epidemic as well as the extent of containment measures.
 By November of this year around five percent of 5-11 year-olds in Finland had had a coronavirus infection, out of those 33 children required hospital treatment, with stays lasting one or two days, according to the THL.
 The US and Israel were the first countries to roll out Covid vaccines to 5-11 year-olds. Meanwhile, in the EU, Austria has already begun vaccinating kids in the age group, while the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Denmark have decided to do so.
 Based on data from other countries, children experience similar side effects from the vaccine as those over the age of 12. The majority of side effects are mild and temporary, including redness and swelling at the vaccination site, headache, fatigue, muscle aches and chills.

Kids' vaccines to arrive in Finland this week


Summary: One in three students at universities and universities of applied sciences reported suffering from symptoms of anxiety and depression, with the rate even higher among women.

A research study into the health and well-being of higher education students in Finland has found that one in three suffer from symptoms of anxiety and depression.
 This is a proportionally higher rate of mental health symptoms and psychological distress than the adult population as a whole, according to the research.
 More than 6,000 students responded to the latest Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing Survey (KOTT) — carried out in a cooperative project by public health authority THL and social insurance institute Kela every four years — during February and March this year.
 The rate of anxiety and depression among female students was even higher, with 40 percent of women studying at universities and universities of applied sciences reporting symptoms.
 The study further found that female students were three times more likely to develop an eating disorder than their male counterparts.
 THL's Development Manager  Suvi Parikka  explained that questions on mental health from other large-scale population surveys were added to the latest KOTT study, which meant that students could be compared to other adults.
 Story continues after the photo.
 Suvi Parikka, Development Manager at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL. Janne Lindroos / Yle
 "The workload of young adults has also been highlighted by other studies, which means that it is not just a problem for students. However, students have said that during the coronavirus era, the workload required for their studies has increased," Parikka said, but added that the mental strain and symptoms of anxiety and depression had been on the increase even before the pandemic.
 The effects of the Covid pandemic may have then exacerbated these issues, she said.
 Remote learning causing isolation, loneliness
 The increased workload may be due to challenges arising from remote learning, Parika added.
 The survey was conducted during the third wave of the corona epidemic, in the spring of 2021, when many students were largely confined to their homes. This meant that much of the studying was done alone and the opportunities to maintain social networks were significantly limited.
 Social activities that are usually associated with student life — such as events, parties, hobbies — were prohibited or restricted at the time.
 "In addition, those who started their studies in 2020 may not have developed their study routines, which makes the situation even more difficult," Parikka said.
 Story continues after the photo.
 Antti Halava, who studies engineering and mathematics at Aalto University in Helsinki, told Yle that loneliness is a problem within the higher education environment. "It's important to keep a balance between school and the rest of your life," he said. Janne Lindroos / Yle
 She added that she hopes second year students will have been better integrated into the university community during the current academic year.
 However, it is unlikely that the situation will dramatically change any time soon and — although students have at least partly returned to campuses during the autumn term — the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) reported in November that demand among university students for mental health services this autumn has been higher than total annual levels in the past.
 This gives an indication that the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on health and well-being will not be resolved in the very short term, Parikka added. She therefore called for different and new means of supporting students to be considered so that students are not left alone while queuing for congested services.
 Story continues after the photo.
 Leena Nieminen, a first year student of chemical engineering at Aalto University, told Yle she could understand the results of THL's research. "We have mostly been remote, and it is a really hard start to studying," she said. Janne Lindroos / Yle
 Support for students needed
 Parikka further called for an assessment of the need for support to be provided to students, so that the risk of a prolonged and severe mental disorder does not materialise. However, she added, the most important thing would be to address the root causes.
 "If the problems are related to remote learning, then support from school staff is needed," she said.
 In addition to professional help, students also have the opportunity to influence their own health and well-being.
 The survey found that anxiety and depression were less common among students who exercised, for example, while many respondents reported that browsing their phones affected their sleep.
 "A good night's sleep and a healthy diet helps students' well-being and recovery, in addition to maintaining social circles," Parikka noted.
 Story continues after the photo.
 Matti Kaurala is in the final stages of studying economics and finance at Aalto University. "Sports and the other social activities have really helped with the study side," he said. Janne Lindroos / Yle
 However, there is a problem with the above suggestion: for a person who is deeply depressed, it is pointless to suggest going for a jog or correcting their sleep rhythm, when waking up alone can be such a crushing experience.
 "Here again we come to the need for an assessment of the requirement for care. Those who need help must get it," Parikka said.
 However, it is clear that student health care and mental health services alone will not solve the mental health problems of young adults. The situation must also be addressed through cross-sectoral cooperation, Parikka said, and higher education institutes should actively seek out struggling students within the school safety net.
 "Universities need to highlight and strengthen community spirit, peer support and basic study guidance," Parikka suggested.
 However, the means by which this will happen is not yet clear.

THL study: "Concerning" increase in depression, anxiety among higher education students


Summary: A boss at the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district has called for third booster shots of Covid vaccines as well as the use of face masks.

According to  Lasse Lehtonen , Director of Diagnostics at the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district (HUS), there are many indications that the Omicron variant is becoming more common in the district.
 Meanwhile, pathology researcher  Tuomas Aivelo  said he thinks omicron will be the main variant in Finland by Christmas.
 Lehtonen tweeted on Monday that the proportion of S-gene negatives in last week’s positive tests was 7.0 percent, significantly higher than the previous week, when the percentage was only 0.6. The current main coronavirus, the delta variant, is predominantly S-gene positive, but in recent days there have also been an increase in S-gene negative results in samples testing positive for coronavirus infection, suggesting an upswing in Omicron.
 "The development appears very similar to ones seen in Denmark and Norway. We may be a few days behind, but it is very likely that omicron will now spread to the [Finnish] population," Lehtonen told Yle.
 The diagnostics director said it was still difficult to say what possible impacts the spread of omicron could have.
 "We need boosters"
 "The answer depends a lot on how much protection against the variant that vaccines provide. And secondly, [the severity] of symptoms that omicron causes," he said, adding that it is still unclear whether omicron is milder or similar to previous variants.
 Lehtonen noted that current research indicates that the vaccines used in Finland do not provide adequate protection against the omicron variant without the use booster doses. Authorities in Finland will consider whether to  speed up  the pace of Covid-19 booster vaccinations.
 "We need third [booster] vaccines. Many European countries have accelerated the schedule for rolling out booster vaccines due to concerns about the omicron variant," he said.
 According to Lehtonen, there are also indications that omicron is more contagious than the widespread delta variant and that the use of face masks is becoming increasingly important.
 Story continues after photo
 Lasse Lehtonen Markku Pitkänen / Yle
 "Although you can go to various places with the Covid pass, people should use masks indoors, even a more effective FFP2-type mask," he said.
 The need for further restrictions due to the epidemic will be known very soon, according to Lehtonen, who noted that if vaccines do not adequately protect people from a serious form of Covid, the country will be in a similar situation as it found itself at the beginning of the epidemic, with widespread restrictions.
 "Omicron main variant by Christmas"
 Researcher Aivelo said there are indications that omicron was spreading and predicted that it would be the most common variant by Christmastime.
 Tutkija Tuomas Aivelo ennakoi, että omikronvariantti on Suomessa valtavirus muutamassa viikossa. Aivelo kuvattiin joulukuussa 2020. Silja Viitala / Yle
 "If the share of test results was seven percent last week, the readings are much higher now. In a week omicron will be the main variant in the HUS area and elsewhere," he said.
 A similar development has already been seen in Norway, Denmark and the UK. According to Aivelo there is no reason to doubt that Finland would be an exception.
 In Denmark, for example, omicron accounted for about 10 percent of new coronavirus infections a few days ago, while the proportion of cases caused by the variant is expected to break the 50 percent mark on Tuesday or Wednesday.
 Exactly why omicron spreads so rapidly is not yet known, according to Aivelo, but it is known that the variant is often able to circumvent the protection provided by vaccines.
 According to British research, two jabs of a Covid vaccine provide only about 20 percent protection against the omicron variant of the virus.
 "The group vulnerable to omicron is therefore much larger than in the case of the delta variant," he explained, adding that it would no longer be possible to prevent the new variant from entering the country by, for example, tightening borders.
 What is important, he said, is to limit the number of new cases it causes.
 Denmark and Britain
 "Denmark and Britain are trying to vaccinate a lot of people. It slows the spread of omicron and affects hospital workloads. It would be especially important to get vaccines to the unvaccinated," Aivelo said.
 He said that due to the worsening situation in Denmark, restaurants, bars and nightclubs saw new restrictions and school holidays were extended in order to curb omicron's spread.
 "Then, on the other hand, protections offered by the Covid pass no longer apply to omicron, as two vaccines do not seem to be effective [against it]," he said.
 In terms of the emergency brake, Aivelo said there is no time to wait for implementing new restrictions, adding that the situation was already difficult in Finland.
 4,300 cases over the weekend
 On Monday, the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported that just over 4,300 new coronavirus cases had been diagnosed in Finland since Friday. The largest proportion of the country's cases (1,830) were recorded in the HUS district, followed by the regions of Northern Ostrobothnia (658) and Pirkanmaa (496).
 The weekend's infection figure is relatively large, but Lehtonen said he prefers to keep his eye on the number of people with Covid who end up in the hospital.
 As of Monday there were 296 people in hospitals being treated for Covid, 52 of whom were in intensive care. A further 21 people died from the disease over the weekend, according to the THL.
 "If the vaccinations are OK, the illness caused by the coronavirus is usually quite mild. Vaccinations have changed the nature of the disease. It is hoped that this will be the case with the omicron variant. But we do not know [yet]," he said.
 At the moment, the recent increased need for treatment of Covid at the district's hospitals appears to have levelled off.
 "The need for medical care here at HUS has now slightly decreased," he said, adding that he doesn't foresee problems unless the anticipated spread of omicron significantly increases the pressure at hospitals.
 Emergency brake unknowns
 So far, Prime Minister  Sanna Marin 's (SDP) government  has hesitated  applying the so-called "emergency brake" and reintroducing epidemic restrictions.
 But Lehtonen said that no one has exactly defined what pulling the brake would actually involve, adding that he would like to see the impact of the most recent restrictions have had at the local level before considering more widespread restrictions.
 Lehtonen said that in his opinion, vaccinations are becoming more important, adding that if a third jab is needed to protect people against omicron, then the pace of vaccinations should be sped up.
 "And the important thing, of course, is that those who have not had the first rounds of vaccinations should go get them," Lehtonen said.

Expert: Omicron Finland's main coronavirus variant by Christmas


Summary: The report says that while Finland has ambitious climate goals, it needs to implement their plans rather than continue coming up with new ones.

Finland has reduced carbon emissions but not quickly enough, according to a fresh environmental report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
 The OECD's Environmental Performance Review for Finland 2021 found that while the Nordic country is known for being a leader in environmental policies and ambitious goals, it is not "not fully on track" to meet those goals.
 "Greenhouse gas emissions fell in the last decade, but they need to decline at a much faster pace to meet the target. Waste generation, material consumption and nutrient losses to water bodies have continued to rise. Agriculture and a large forestry sector exert pressures on the country’s biodiversity," a summary about the  report  stated.
 The new report is the OECD's third review of Finland, which found that its agricultural and forestry sectors put excessive pressure on the country's biodiversity.
 Implement the plans
 It also said that instead of continuing "good strategy making," Finland should implement those plans.
 The report found that even though Finland has created a strategy to reach a goal of being carbon neutral by the year 2035, concrete measures toward that end are lacking.
 In terms of consumption, the report said that the amount of waste is increasing, despite the fact that the opposite trend should be happening.
 Regarding an economic recovery from the Covid crisis, the report said Finland needs to make decisions about incentives that steer the economy towards a sustainable, greener direction, making investments along the way to a green economy.
 The report said that Finland is too reliant on private cars, noting that companies should phase out vehicle subsidies and stop offering free parking to their employees.
 Additionally, the report suggested that Finland should allot more space on the roads to public transport.

Finland's forestry industry, car use faces scrutiny in OECD environmental review


Summary: Most morning papers report a phone conversation between the Finnish and US presidents, and a planned call between Sauli Niinistö and Vladimir Putin.

The Helsinki tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat  is one of the papers reporting that Finland's President  Sauli Niinistö  and US President  Joe Biden  held a telephone conversation on Monday.
 The White House website said the two leaders had shared concerns about the situation in Ukraine. Biden also praised  Finland's decision to choose American-made F-35 fighters  to replace its aging fleet of F-18 Hornets. Biden is reported to have said that the purchase provides a strong foundation for closer bilateral defense cooperation in coming years.
 According to the Office of the President of the of Finland, the main topic of discussion was the situation on Ukraine's borders. The two presidents said it was important to work together to find a diplomatic solution to the tense situation.
 President Niinistö also expressed his condolences over deaths caused by tornadoes that have plagued the US in recent days.
 On bilateral relations, Ilta-Sanomat writes that Niinistö told Biden about the main pillars of Finland's security policy and said he appreciated NATO's open door policy.
 Later, via Twitter, Niinistö thanked Biden for "an excellent and deep-ranging conversation."
 Earlier on Monday, Niinistö had a telephone conversation with Greek Prime Minister  Kyriakos Mitsotakis  about Mitsotakis' meeting with Russian President  Vladimir Putin  last week in Sochi.
 On Tuesday, President Niinistö is scheduled to have a telephone conversation with President Putin.
 Which is more important - first or third jab?
 The Swedish-language Helsinki daily  Hufvudstadsbladet  ponders whether or not everyone who has received two coronavirus vaccinations should hurry to get  a third booster shot .
 Interviewed by the paper,  Ville Peltola , professor of infectious diseases at the University of Turku and chairman of the national expert group on vaccination issues (Krar), told the paper that he sees no need for a rush national campaign for a third dose of coronavirus vaccine.
 "We should try to reach everyone over the age of 60 quickly, because they are at risk of serious illness. But for those under 60, there's not such a hurry. It is important that they do not take up appointment times that should be used by the elderly," said Peltola.
 The emphasis, he believes, should be on giving everyone a first dose.
 "In addition, it has not been five or six months after the second dose for most young people, so they should not even take the [booster] vaccine yet. However, it is very important that those who have not taken their first or second corona injection do so," he added.
 Pay gap check
 As  Helsingin Sanomat points out , the gender pay gap is an eternal question to which there do not seem to be any simple answers.
 It notes that according to one argument, the gender pay gap persists because it is not talked about and not enough is really known about it.
 For this reason, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, which has a largely female membership, has been looking at  wage transparency as a means of reducing the gap .
 Youssef Zad , an economist at JHL has made an extensive statistical analysis of the gender pay gap based on international research data. In his study, Zad examines both the causes of the pay gap and the means by which the gap has been reduced.
 “If women knew that male colleagues were getting more pay, maybe they would be more ready to demand pay increases,” Zad explained.
 Helsingin Sanomat notes that some people still argue that claims of a gender wage gap are nonsense. Others see inequality in every workplace. According to Zad, a woman's euro can be 84 cents or 100 cents, depending on how you look it.
 "At the level of the economy as a whole, a woman’s euro is 84 cents, but a woman working in the same job, with the same title, with the same educational background, is more likely to get the same pay as a man,” Zad points out.
 There are pay gaps that can be explained by factors such as education, specialisation, title, hours worked, family situation, and so on. In Finland, however, these explain less than half of the pay gap. The remaining unexplained wage gaps may represent gender discrimination.
 The Helsingin Sanomat article also includes a calculator, in Finnish, where one can see the average income in Finland for a large range of different jobs.
 Scam warning
 Iltalehti carries a renewed warning  of a scam aimed at accessing users' account IDs and credit card information has been active on Instagram and Facebook for more than a month now.
 Many users of these social media have been receiving messages that appear to be from a friend, but in reality their account has been hijacked and exploited. The messages can also come from a fake profile made to resemble the real profile of a friend.
 The scam message attempts to get the victim to send his or her phone number and a verification code in a text message in order to hijack the account using Facebook's recovery feature.
 In addition, the message may claim that the person has won a lottery that requires credit card information to be redeemed.
 Finland's National Cyber Security Centre says scam campaign is still active. Messages may also now request Google account verification codes.
 Cyber Security Centre is reminding social media users to never give anyone verification codes via text message.

Tuesday's papers: Niinistö-Biden talks, third jab priorities, gender pay gap


Summary: Compartment No. 6, directed by Juho Kuosmanen, is in the running for the Golden Globe Award for best non-English-language film.

Juho Kuosmanen 's  Compartment No. 6  won the  Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival  earlier this year, and now has a shot at a Golden Globe Award.
 The film's producer,  Jussi Rantamäki , told Yle that the nomination came as a surprise.
 "There had been no hint, nor were we in the loop about the nomination. It even happened that when Juho (Kuosmanen) received the first message of congratulations, he just replied 'Thank you, that's always needed'. But then, when we found out what the congratulations were for, yes, the mood has been high here," Rantamäki explained.
 Compartment No. 6  has already been successful in Europe, where it has won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and been nominated for the European Film Awards gala. America has not yet taken notice to the same extent, and success in Europe is no guarantee of success in the USA.
 "Even though the film has won an award in Cannes, there are lots of examples that it means nothing in America," Rantamäki pointed out.
 Kuosmanen's film is based on the book of the same name by  Rosa Liksom , which won the Finlandia prize when it was published in 2011.
 It focuses on a young Finnish woman, played by  Seidi Haarla , and a Russian miner, played by  Yuri Borisov , forced to share a small compartment on a train from Moscow to Murmansk.
 The Golden Globe nomination is a hard-to-read signal for the American market in the sense that the winner will be decided by an association of foreign film journalists living in the United States.
 According to Rantamäki, thanks to the Golden Globe nomination,  Compartment No. 6  is now receiving the kind of attention in North America that the success of Cannes did not give it there.
 "It's a huge recognition, of course. It's regarded as perhaps the second largest film event in America after the Oscars," he notes.
 Compartment No. 6  is also  Finland's Oscar nominee  for best international film. The film's producer, Jussi Rantamäki, says the process of shortlisting Oscar nominees is a major mystery, but the nomination at the Golden Globes is a “tremendous opening” for the film's Oscar campaign.
 More than 90 films are currently in the for an international film Oscar. The shortlist of 15 films will be released on 21 December and finalists will be announced in February.

Compartment no. 6 a contender for Golden Globe Award


Summary: Niinistö expressed grave concern over the tense situation at the borders of Ukraine and stressed the need to find a diplomatic resolution.

According to the president's office in Helsinki, in addition to bilateral relations between Finland and Russia, President  Sauli Niinistö  and his Russian counterpart  Vladimir Putin  had a thorough discussion on the situation at the borders of Ukraine during a telephone call on Tuesday.
 President Niinistö expressed grave concern about the tense situation and stressed the need to find a diplomatic resolution.
 Discussions also touched upon  the Spirit of Helsinki , a summit meeting of world leaders Niinistö has proposed to tackle climate and security issues. Finland has offered to host such a gathering to mark the 50th anniversary meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Finland in 2025.
 Calls with US and Greek leaders
 President Niinistö and US President  Joe Biden  had a brief telephone conversation on Monday.
 The White House website said the two leaders had shared concerns about the situation in Ukraine. Biden also praised  Finland's decision to choose American-made F-35 fighters  to replace its ageing fleet of F-18 Hornets. Biden is reported to have said that the purchase provides a strong foundation for closer bilateral defence cooperation in coming years.
 According to Finnish officials, the main topic of discussion was the situation on Ukraine's borders. The two presidents said it was important to work together to find a diplomatic solution to the tense situation.
 Earlier on Monday, Niinistö also had a telephone conversation with Greek Prime Minister  Kyriakos Mitsotakis  about the Greek premier's meeting with President Putin last week in Sochi.

Finland's Niinistö expresses "grave concern" over Ukraine in call with Putin


Summary: Meanwhile, a vaccine expert says virtually everyone will eventually be exposed to the new coronavirus variant, adding that vaccinations still protect people from severe forms of Covid-19.

Experts have found that even people who have received two Covid vaccines are also susceptible to becoming infected by the new coronavirus variant Omicron.
 Vaccine expert  Mika Rämet  said on Tuesday that he recommends everyone — including vaccinated individuals — to wear more effective face masks such as FFP2 or FFP3 even at events in which Covid passes are in use.
 Rämet, a vaccine specialist from the University of Tampere's Vaccine Research Centre, made the comments on Yle TV1's breakfast show on Tuesday.
 He said that it is clear that Omicron will become the dominant variant of the coronavirus in Finland, adding that the development calls for new ways of combating the virus.
 "We're all going to be exposed"
 "Omicron also infects double-vaccinated people, which means that there's a risk of further escalation of the epidemic," he explained, emphasising that a double dose of a Covid vaccine seems to protect people from serious complications from a coronavirus infection, but the risk of fully-vaccinated of being infected by the new variant is clearly higher than with earlier variants of the virus.
 "Fortunately, [infection caused by] Omicron does not appear to lead to more serious disease, but as this variant takes over, the number of infections will increase," Rämet explained.
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 Mika Rämet, file photo.
 While Rämet encouraged the use of good face masks in public situations, he conceded that virtually no one in Finland will be able to avoid coronavirus indefinitely.
 "We're all going to be exposed. What we can do is prepare and get vaccinated.
 "Vaccines will not stop the epidemic but can prevent serious illness," he said.
 Can Finland avoid situation facing Norway?
 Covid experts in Finland have said that the government should take action in order to avoid a deluge of new coronavirus cases that are expected in Norway.
 On Monday, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIHP) announced that Omicron was well on its way to become the dominant coronavirus variant, saying that in a worst case scenario, there could be up to hundreds of thousands of new cases diagnosed daily in the country by January.
 "Even if the Omicron variant were to cause milder disease in the individual, the widespread transmission would still lead to significantly more hospital admissions than today. In a preliminary scenario, we estimate that in three weeks there could be up to 90,000 and 300,000 cases per day and 50 to 200 admissions per day if the measures do not slow the epidemic significantly," the institute said in a statement issued on Monday.
 Norway has a population of around 5.4 million people, or nearly the same as Finland's 5.5 million people.
 The Strategy Director of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health,  Pasi Pohjola , also appeared on Yle's morning show.
 Pohjola said whether Finland faces a situation similar to Norway depends on people's behaviour as well as possible restrictions being implemented.
 Emergency brake up in the air
 Over the weekend Pohjola told Yle that nearly all of the criteria to activate the so-called "emergency brake" — effectively, a reintroduction of various epidemic-related restrictions — had already been met.
 However, returning to Yle, the ministry's strategy director did not directly answer a question about when the government might engage the brake.
 "That's a good question," Pohjola said, adding that it remained unclear whether recent restrictions on public gatherings had helped to improve matters.
 "We haven't yet seen how the measures introduced regionally will affect the situation. It may be seen at the end of this week or the beginning of next week, at the latest," he said.
 When asked what engaging the emergency brake would look like in practice, Pohjola said it could mean closing establishments regionally and "possibly banning public events, at least to some extent."
 "And if necessary, regions could revoke the use of Covid passes that enable events and establishments to circumvent restrictions," he said.

Finland's Covid "emergency brake" still on standby


Summary: Finland cut training capacity for prison guards a decade ago.

Prisons in Finland are staffed in part by personnel who lack the required training, thanks to a reduction in training capacity implemented a decade ago.
 The problem has been evident for a couple of years, and at Pyhäselkä jail in Joensuu open positions have been advertised without applications from qualified candidates.
 "A significant number of our staff at the moment are unqualified temporary workers," said prison governor  Jaana Leinonen-Nielsen .
 She declined to specify how many of the prison's guards don't have the right qualifications.
 The Criminal Sanctions Agency (Finnish acronym Rise), which manages Finland's jails, says that large, closed prisons have the biggest staffing issues. Those include prison facilities in Helsinki, Vantaa, Turku and Sukeva.
 Violence adds to workload
 The staff shortage makes jails less secure and adds to guards' workloads. Although temporary guards perform their tasks with the same responsibilities as qualified staff, they do not all perform the same duties.
 For example at Pyhäselkä, it's agreed that certain tasks have to be carried out by qualified guards. That means that every shift has to have qualified guards as well as temporary staff.
 "Training temporary staff has to be done on top of your normal work and that increases the burden," says prison guard  Atso Pesonen .
 He works at Pyhäselkä jail and is the chair of the local prison guards' union.
 Austerity measures bite back
 The director of Rise,  Arto Kujala , says that the shortage has its roots in savings implemented between 2006 and 2016. That brought in big cuts to guards' training: in 2008 some 80 students were taken on, but since 2010 the number has been 36-40.
 Kujula says the problem was recognised too late.
 "The amount of training offered should have been increased years ago if we were to have enough staff to hire now," said Kujala.
 There are some 2,600 employees at Rise, of whom around half work in guard or security positions.
 Guards increasingly face threats
 Guards say another reason for the lack of candidates is their working conditions.
 Yle reported last year that intimidation and threats had increased in prisons.  Juha Ovaskainen , who has worked as a guard for more than 30 years, says the job has become more demanding.
 "The prisoners have become more challenging," says Ovaskainen, who works at Pyhäselkä. "Almost all of them have a substance abuse problem. Mental health issues have also increased."
 Ovaskainen and Pesonen are not showing their faces in images for this story because of the threats of violence they receive. Within the prison they are of course recognisable faces, but they say that threatening situations have also occurred in daily life outside prison walls.
 According to the prison guards' union, more than 60 percent of guards have considered changing professions. Security risks and a heavy workload were mentioned as reasons.
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 A union survey found that some 60 percent of guards had considered changing jobs.  Saana Sjöblom-Hasselblatt / Yle
 The union says any response has been too slow, and they want more action from Rise.
 Rise boss Kujala says that problems have been taken seriously, however.
 From the start of the year Rise has conducted a number of surveys about security in prisons, which prompted a raft of measures. Kujala says some of those have already been implemented.
 For example, fewer guards now work alone, and security technology in prisons has been updated. In the autumn Rise stopped housing women and men in the same open prisons, which helped to reduce harassment of women prisoners.
 Next year further changes are planned in the placement of prisoners.
 "We will establish new units where we'll place those prisoners who most seriously endanger prison security," said Kujala.
 In future, dangerous prisoners will be concentrated in Riihimäki, Turku, Sukeva and Mikkeli. New units will also be set up for young and under-age prisoners, and for women prisoners.
 The idea is that separate units can better respond to the needs of different groups.
 Rise director Arto Kujala admits that the staff shortage has increased the workload for prison guards.  Jaani Lampinen / Yle
 Pandemic improved security
 The Covid pandemic has improved security at Pyhäselkä, at least. At the start of the epidemic outdoor exercise and mealtimes were segmented by the facility's wings. That calmed the atmosphere within the jail and staff intend to continue the practice once the epidemic is over.
 "Before we could have 60 prisoners outside at the same time," says governor Leinonen-Nielsen. "Now we have 10-15. It is clear that managing this kind of group is easier, if there is any disturbance."
 On the other hand, this practice requires more staff as each wing needs to be monitored separately. In addition, separating them is not as conducive to rehabilitation as their opportunities to interact with others are reduced.
 Leadership, crime prevention and training are key
 Director Kujala says that Rise will establish its own unit focused on crime prevention. That is part of a broader reorganisation within the agency. Leadership is also on the agenda.
 "Our reports show that we don't know how to lead on prison security," says Kujala. "I think that this is not about individual managers' abilities, we have structural problems."
 Story continues after photo
 Staff have recovered makeshift tattooing devices from cells at Pyhäselkä Ari Haimakainen / Yle
 Training will also get better resources. Rise is considering wider-ranging studies and co-operation with educational institutions.
 At the moment the only institution where it is possible to qualify as a guard is at the Rise training centre in Vantaa.
 Pyhäselkä governor Leinonen-Nielsen says that a lot of her temporary staff would be interested in training to become qualified in their roles, but the educational programmes on offer are impractical.
 "They have to leave and study in southern Finland, but people with families, for example, don't always find that very easy," says the governor.
 Staff shortage to remain
 Pyhäselkä guards Pesonen and Ovaskainen say that the profession's drawing power needs to be improved. In their opinion, Rise does not have a good reputation as an employer.
 Rise boss Kujala, meanwhile, says that there is interest in becoming prison guards, but that prisons would still be under-staffed in his opinion even if all open posts were filled.
 That's because of savings made since 2010.
 "We cut 500 staff, but the amount of work did not reduce," so when we take into account the tasks and the agency's structure, we have too few staff in principle."

Finnish jails suffer guard shortage


Summary: A report on the mostly-sealed case said that the defendant first contacted the victims through social media.

Eastern Uusimaa District Court has sentenced a man to 11 years and three months in prison after finding him guilty of aggravated sexual assaults of six girls who were between 13-16 years of age at the time of the offences.
 Two of the victims were wards of the state and another of the victims was mildly or moderately developmentally disabled when the crimes took place.
 The man carried out the offences during 2019-2021 in the municipalities of Tuusula, Hamina, Lahti and Nokia.
 The 40-year-old defendant faced a total of 14 sexual assault offences, including aggravated rape of a child, four counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a child and the purchase of sexual acts from a young person.
 In addition to the prison term, the defendant was ordered to pay his victims around 70,300 euros, the victims' court costs amounting to 23,200 euros, as well as his own attorney's costs of 19,500 euros.
 Verdict sealed
 Court records and verdict of the case have mostly been sealed, but a public report said the defendant first contacted the victims through social media. The man encouraged the victims to send him photos and video of sexual acts and had provided some of the youngsters with sex devices that were seen being used in some of the pictures. The man also offered some of the victims money or alcohol as rewards for carrying out the acts, according to the report.
 The defendant lured four of the victims in order to commit sexual and other offences against them. The girls met with the man in his car, apartment as well as a hotel, among other places.
 Some of the sexual acts committed against the children featured sadomasochistic traits, and the man had secretly video recorded the meetings without permission from his victims.
 The photo and video material that he had shot, as well as the photographs and video footage taken by the girls, were found on his cell phone and a memory stick. A large amount of other sexually demoralising material was also found in his possession, according to the public report.

Man handed 11 year sentence for aggravated sexual abuse of 6 teens


Summary: While relatively few infection cases so far involve foreign tourists, tourism operators are concerned about the impact tougher measures may have on the sector.

Finnish Lapland is seeing its highest coronavirus infection rates since the start of the pandemic.
 Last week, a total of 276 infections were diagnosed in the regional hospital district, 46 of which were among foreign tourists. The proportion of tourists among all infections in Lapland rose from 3.5 percent to 16.5 percent in a week, according to  Markku Broas , chief infectious diseases physician for the Lapland Hospital District.
 Meanwhile, 61 infections were diagnosed in the Länsi-Pohja Hospital District last week, the area to the immediate southwest of Lapland, abutting the border with Sweden. So far there have been few among foreign tourists. Instead, cross-border shoppers are being diagnosed with the infection "all the time," says  Jyri J. Taskila , the district's chief medical officer.
 On the other hand, the need for hospital care has replaced infection rates as a key indicator of the severity of the pandemic. That too has increased.
 "We can't talk about capacity overload yet. We currently have five patients in hospital, having previously had one or none at all. There have been one or two patients in intensive care recently," relates Broas.
 In the Länsi-Pohja Hospital District, there were seven patients in hospital care as of Monday. A week ago, there were five.
 The Omicron variant has not yet been detected in Lapland. However, the delay in confirming cases is one to two weeks. For example, last week's tests in the the Länsi-Pohja district have not yet been analysed for the variant.
 Other means before emergency brake
 A surge in the number of infections, and the spread of the Omicron variant are creating pressure for the government to impose its so-called  emergency brake .
 Pasi Pohjola , strategy director of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, has estimated that almost all the criteria for the national emergency braking mechanism  were already met over the past weekend .
 According to Yle's sources, changes in border practices have been under discussion in the government's ministerial working group. This could mean that the Covid passport alone would not be sufficient for a person to enter the country, but each incoming passenger would be required to provide evidence of two negative Covid test results as well.
 In Lapland's tourism sector, the situation is being monitored with concern. For example, the winter tourist season at Lapland Hotels has got off to a good start and the hotel booking situation comparable to the record level seen in 2019.
 "If we start demanding these tests before coming here and especially here on the spot, it will in practice stop international tourism," says  Ari Vuorentausta , CEO of the hotel chain.
 Story continues after the photo.
 Ari Vuorentausta is CEO of the Lapland Hotels chain. He says bookings are good well into the spring, but emergency measures would have a serious impact on  tourist arrivals. Vesa-Pekka Hiltunen / Yle
 Representatives of the hospital district, municipalities and coronavirus testing services held a virtual meeting on Monday to review the organisation of rapid antigen tests for foreign tourists, for example at airports when they arrive in Lapland.
 "The private service providers of the municipalities were of the opinion that a solution for testing at the airport, for example, could be found, but municipality representatives agreed with the Lapland Hospital District that it would be best if the test were performed before the trip," explains Markku Broas.
 On the basis of previous experience, it would likely take at least an hour to complete rapid antigen tests for a planeload of air passengers.
 "Before we start that, we need to take all possible measures to prevent the epidemic from deteriorating further, and overburdening primary care, specialist care and risking the availability of treatment," Broas adds.
 This includes maintaining tracing services and stressing the use of masks.
 Test before coming
 Markku Broas also hopes that in future international tourists to Lapland will be tested in their countries of origin before their trip begins. Among the Schengen member countries, for example, Switzerland requires a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours prior to travel. The test result must be presented before boarding the plane.
 "That would be the easiest way to prevent infections," Broas points out. .
 Home tests, on the other hand are not as reliable. Finland's THL recommends home testing, but says positive results  should be confirmed by a lab .
 Lapland Hotels' Vuorentausta hopes that the current restrictions will be given a chance to work before any emergency measures are imposed. He points out that the disease is already prevalent among locals.
 "There has been little [coronavirus] transmission to the local population. Contacts with the local population have been brief. Our clients are in practice double vaccinated, of course there are children who have not had the vaccine," says Vuorentausta.

Covid surge casts shadow over Lapland tourism


Summary: Paper union workers could strike in the new year.

The paper workers' union says UPM workers could go on strike from 2 January if a deal isn't reached with the company over a new collective agreement.
 Union bosses announced the strike threat on Tuesday after a meeting during which they approved deals with seven other firms, including the giant Metsä Group.
 Those deals reflect current conditions in the sector and the pay rises already agreed elsewhere in this round of pay talks.
 UPM plants would be closed for three weeks during the strike, unless a deal is reached.
 The union says that it is unable to agree to five separate agreements depending on the business sector, as UPM is demanding.
 The collective agreement currently governing pay and conditions in the paper industry is the fiftieth and last sector-wide agreement, after the employers' side announced they preferred to negotiate company by company.
 In Finland industrial action is permitted when no collective agreement is in force, but are deemed illegal if they take place after a deal has been agreed.

UPM workers to strike if union and management don't reach deal


Summary: Health experts in Finland worry vaccinated individuals carrying the virus will infect unvaccinated people.

Markku Tervahauta , Director General of the Finnish institute for health and welfare (THL), said residents in Finland may soon face restrictions to curb the virus that cannot be circumvented with a Covid pass.
 Speaking to Yle talk show  Ykkösaamu  on Saturday, Tervahauta said it may be time to retire the pass in its current form in the face of the  Omicron variant . The passport enables people to gain entry to various events. Obtaining one requires vaccination against Covid-19, a certificate of a recent negative test result, or a certificate of recovery from Covid-19.
 Health experts in Finland now worry that people unvaccinated against Covid will contract the infection from vaccinated individuals carrying the virus.
 The THL has yet to offer the government a recommendation on when Finland could pull its  Covid "emergency brake,"  which would effectively reintroduce various epidemic-related restrictions.
 "We have to follow the new infections day by day as well as hospital capacity," he told Yle, saying more stringent measures would be necessary if regions were not on top of restrictions to curb the spread of infections.
 Speaking to Helsingin Sanomat on Saturday, Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) said she wanted to see local and regional efforts to mitigate the virus ahead of any overreaching measures.
 On Friday the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS)  raised its emergency preparedness  to the highest level owing to the deteriorating Covid situation.
 Earlier this week the government said occupational healthcare could be brought in to speed up Covid vaccinations. While Tervahauta said he agreed with this idea, he said it was important that municipalities continue to offer vaccination priority to older people and risk groups.

THL: Soon time to shelve Covid passes


Summary: Omicron worries dominate Finnish headlines on Wednesday, but there was other news, too.

Some 100,000 people in the capital region are unvaccinated, according to  Helsingin Sanomat . Public health institute THL's figures show that people under 40 make up the majority of this group.
 Residents with foreign backgrounds less likely to be vaccinated against Covid than native Finns,  Lasse Lehtonen , Director of Diagnostics at the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district (HUS), told the paper.
 The most common foreign languages in the Helsinki region are Russian, Estonian, Somali and Arabic.
 HS notes that among all population groups, lower levels of education correspond to vaccine hesitancy. Lehtonen noted that Russian-language propaganda criticises western Covid vaccines.
 A recent survey by FARO, an organisation for Russian speakers in Finland, found that 70 percent of respondents were suspicious of Covid vaccines.
 Cold and pricey winter
 Winter is only beginning but business daily  Kauppalehti  says electricity prices will remain high for months to come—until spring.
 Finland has been paying exceptionally high power prices for the past 23 days, with wholesale prices exceeding 100 euros per megawatt hour. That number is expected to come down to 60 euros next April or May.
 The situation is squeezing small businesses. KL notes that an agricultural producer in North Savo already said it would stop its power-hungry endeavour of growing cucumbers this winter and was also laying off staff as it struggled to pay for electricity.
 Mika Kuismanen , Chief Economist at the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, said the country's energy production capacity will improve next year when  Olkiluoto 3 , Finland's fifth commercial nuclear reactor, is expected to start up.
 "But that's in the future and it gives us some hope. Before that we have to get through this winter and the bills that come with it," Kuismanen told KL.
 House hunting while foreign
 Finland has approved all real estate purchase applications submitted by foreign residents in the past two years, reports  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 Since the start of 2020, individuals who are not EU or EEA nationals have  needed to get a permit  from the government to buy property.
 The Defence Ministry has so far approved 1,059 such real estate purchases.
 Rules on foreign property ownership in Finland changed following  a major police operation near Turku  that focused on a Russian-owned firm suspected of money laundering. The government said it wanted to have the right to intervene in transactions that it believed could jeopardise national security.

Wednesday's papers: Finland's anti-vaxxers, an expensive winter ahead and foreign house hunters


Summary: "We need to acknowledge that the world already has concrete examples of the tidal wave that's in store if we don't protect ourselves," the Minister for Family and Basic Services, Krista Kiuru, said.

Aiming to avoid further growth in new coronavirus cases, Finnish authorities want to introduce new border entry rules, according to Minister for Family and Basic Services  Krista Kiuru  (SDP).
 She made the comments on Yle TV1 A-Studio programme on Tuesday evening.
 "The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Ministry of the Interior proposed [on Tuesday] to the government that restrictions on entry should be significantly tightened," Kiuru said.
 The ministerial proposal spells out that all people entering Finland from outside the EU-Schengen area would need to show a negative Covid test certificate that was issued within 48 hours of arrival. Kiuru said discussions were ongoing on arranging the transition timeline for the effort.
 Kiuru noted that the social affairs and health ministry and the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) also proposed that arrivals from non-Schengen countries would need to take their Covid tests before departing for Finland. Additionally, all people entering the country — including Finnish citizens — would be advised to take a home Covid test immediately upon arrival.
 Another proposal, according to Kiuru, health authorities have proposed that passengers arriving from countries in which the epidemic situation has significantly deteriorated should be required to undergo health checks — which in practice means taking a Covid test — upon arrival. These countries currently include Denmark, Norway and the UK, for example.
 "We cannot wait to catch this virus at the borders," she said.
 Vaccinations over Christmas
 Kiuru said it is important for Finland to expedite the pace of Covid vaccinations and characterised the current pace as slow.
 "We need to acknowledge that the world already has concrete examples of the tidal wave that's in store if we don't protect ourselves," she said.
 Kiuru said that third doses of the Covid vaccine are vital because the protections of double vaccinations are beginning to wane.
 She said that vaccinations should also continue during the Christmas holiday, a period when the country all but shuts down under normal circumstances.
 In order for municipalities to be able to administer vaccines, Kiuru said occupational health care workers should be called upon to help. Additionally, she said a group of ministers met on Tuesday suggesting that retired health care workers and students in the field should be called upon to administer third jabs.
 "We have a large population of skilled people in the field who could join in if they were asked," Kiuru said.

Minister: Nursing students could give Covid boosters, Finland tightening entry rules


Summary: Estimates suggest that e-commerce now accounts for around three percent of the country's overall grocery trade.

While it is still in its infancy, Finland's online grocery market grew steadily during the ongoing Covid crisis, according to the Finnish Commerce Federation.
 To date, the number of people who regularly shopped for groceries online has more than doubled since the start of 2020, shortly before Finland and the world began dealing with coronavirus.
 The federation estimated that e-commerce now accounts for around three percent of the country's overall grocery trade, anticipating the proportion will grow to five percent in four years.
 Households with children are particularly keen online grocery shoppers, according to the group, mostly to save the time and effort needed to go back and forth to brick and mortar supermarkets.
 On the other hand, the main reason that people over the age of 65 ordered groceries online was to avoid contact with others during the epidemic.
 There are many reasons behind consumers' online shopping decisions, according to the federation. Among other things, their choices are influenced by price, previous shopping experiences as well as being regular customers. But there is also an element of experimentation among consumers, according to the group's chief economist  Jaana Kurjenoja .
 She said that online shoppers are more likely than their traditional brick-and-mortar counterparts to seek out market challengers, a trend that will continue to shape the e-commerce market in coming years.
 The most popular online grocery retailers in the country this year were run by the S-Group and K-Group giants as well as fiksuruoka.fi, which sells rescued food items at a discount.

Finland's online grocery shopping doubles during Covid era


Summary: Finland, which has specific rules on who can vaccinate, is exploring how to speed up the roll-out of third doses.

Practical nurses have emerged as an untapped resource in Finland's drive to get third doses into arms faster in the face of the Omicron variant.
 Silja Paavola , who heads practical nurse union SuPer, said practical nurses could quickly be up to speed on administering vaccines.
 "I'm assuming training will be quick and patient safety will be guaranteed," Paavola told Yle on Wednesday.
 The government has said it is looking at ways of accelerating the roll-out of third Covid vaccine doses. This includes recruiting social and healthcare students as well as practical nurses for the task.
 Speaking on Yle TV1's A-Studio programme on Tuesday evening, Family and Basic Services Minister  Krista Kiuru  said retired health care workers, students in the field as well as the defence forces should be  called upon to administer  third jabs.
 Finnish laws currently rule that only a doctor, nurse, midwife or person who has completed vaccination training is allowed to vaccinate.
 Paavola said practical nurses will receive necessary training.
 "We'll tell them what the point of the vaccine is, what can happen and what to monitor once it's given. You don't need to know how it's made,” she said.
 Officials are now eyeing students to staff vaccination centres to allow regular workers to take their Christmas time off as planned.
 "Workers are already overburdened in every way. If we can find volunteers, we'll also be able to take care of vaccinations over the Christmas holidays," Paavola said.
 Experts have found that even people who have received two Covid vaccines are susceptible to becoming infected by the new coronavirus variant Omicron.
 Vaccine expert  Mika Rämet  said on Tuesday that he recommends everyone — including vaccinated individuals — wear more effective face masks such as FFP2 or FFP3 even at events in which Covid passes are in use.

Union says practical nurses ready to give Covid boosters


Summary: Tests indicate a decline in endurance, especially among eighth graders.

Nationwide fitness tests conducted this autumn suggest that endurance levels among eighth-grade pupils in Finland have continued to drop over the past two years.
 Schools across the country carry out the Move! tests, which evaluate physical fitness in fifth and eighth graders every year.
 The programme, which assesses aspects such as endurance, speed and strength, collected data from more than 107,000 students this year.
 Results for some of the tests, including the  20-metre line run  —a test that measures endurance as well as movement skills— have worsened over the past two years.
 The average results for eighth-grade girls in the 20-metre line run decreased by 14 seconds this year compared to the previous year, while that of boys decreased by 13 seconds.
 Over the past two years, the results deteriorated by almost half a minute for both girls and boys, according to  Mikko Huhtiniemi , development manager of the Move! Programme.
 "The past two years have been a challenging period due to the Covid-19 crisis, which could have contributed to these changes," Huhtiniemi suggested.
 A worrying trend
 According to Huhtiniemi, in terms of physical fitness categories, endurance results have deteriorated the most since schools first began implementing the Move! tests in 2016.
 "It is a worrying trend, because endurance is essential for basic functioning and managing everyday tasks," he said.
 Fifth-grade boys in particular have registered a steady decline in results for the 20-metre line run test over the past five years.
 The overall test results, which include data from six sections measuring overall fitness, indicate that 40 percent of fifth and eighth grade students are not fit enough, which means that their current physical condition could have a detrimental effect on their health and wellbeing and would make it difficult to cope with everyday life.
 "It can lead to them having such a physically demanding day that they do not have enough energy to play with friends in the evening or engage in other activities. It can result in a vicious cycle," Huhtiniemi added.
 According to fifth grader Pauli Lampiaho, the 20-metre line run was the most challenging test in the Move! programme. Juuso Stoor / Yle
 Improvements in mobility, core muscles weak
 This year's tests indicated an improvement in mobility skills among male pupils. "The long-term mobility results for boys have improved across the board and that is a small ray of hope. There could be a way to close the gap with girls," Huhtiniemi stated.
 However, female pupils appear to have significantly better mobility skills than their male counterparts. While a quarter of eighth-grade boys were unable to complete a lower back extension adequately, the equivalent figure for girls was only six percent.
 Core muscle strength, on the other hand, has decreased in fifth and eighth grade boys as well as girls compared to the previous year.
 "While the number of repetitions for both fifth-grade boys and girls reached 30 nearly every year, it has now decreased by two units for girls and three units for boys. It is nonetheless a significant change in the results of tens of thousands of girls and boys. And unfortunately, the same can be seen in eighth graders,"  Tommi Vasankari , director of the UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, stated.
 Huhtiniemi points out that even small changes should be taken into account when it comes to a comprehensive study such as Move!, which evaluates a large section of the population.
 Regional differences in fitness levels
 The study also found several regional differences in physical fitness test results. Fifth and eighth graders in Uusimaa (including Helsinki), Pirkanmaa (including Tampere) and North Ostrobothnia (including Oulu) scored better overall than other regions in Finland.
 Lapland and Kainuu, on the other hand, recorded the worst results in the country. The reasons behind these differences remain unclear.
 "Schools in the north might conduct longer field trips and excursions, which would mean long periods spent sitting in a car. This could affect the [physical fitness] situation," Huhtiniemi said.

Fitness levels of kids in Finland continue to drop


Summary: The aim is to curb the spread of Omicron in Finland, which is widely expected to be the predominant coronavirus variant.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Minister of the Interior  Krista Mikkonen  (Green)said that the government is to meet on Thursday to plan out tightened entry restrictions at the country's borders.
 Wanting to avoid the worsening epidemic situation in countries like Norway and Denmark, the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has proposed to require arrivals to have proof of a recent negative Covid test, even if they're fully vaccinated.
 On Tuesday evening, the family and basic services minister,  Krista Kiuru , said that there are other proposals in the works to slow the spread of the new coronavirus variant, Omicron. But those proposals were less stringent than ones suggested by the health agency.
 Kiuru said that arrivals from Denmark, Norway and the UK — which are countries considered to have high coronavirus infection rates — would be required to submit to Covid checks upon arrival.
 Meanwhile, on Thursday, the government is scheduled to decide whether to require arrivals from outside the EU and Schengen area to show proof of a recent negative Covid test.
 THL: Do country-specific checks make sense?
 The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has sent letters of instruction to municipalities along border crossing points, about the testing rules and the countries of arrival that are affected.
 According to a statement from THL sent to Yle, at least the countries of Nigeria, Denmark and possibly the UK and Norway will be on the list. At the same time, Sweden would likely also be included as travel to and from Denmark is so frequent and common, that the Omicron variant is thought to have also spread in Sweden.
 However, the THL also posed the question whether it makes sense to monitor arrivals from individual countries anymore.
 The agency said that up to 13,000 passengers are currently arriving at Helsinki Airport every day, and that extending on-site testing to arrivals from Nigeria, Denmark, the UK, Norway and Sweden would not be possible due to lack of resources.
 Instead, the THL proposed all arrivals show negative Covid test certificates that were issued within 48 hours of arriving in the country. According to the statement, the exception to that rule would be permanent residents and citizens who would be tested after entering the country.

Minister: Government to decide Covid border rules on Thursday


Summary: County Council elections take place in January 2022.

Investigations into a Nazi terror cell in the sleepy town of Kankaanpää  drew headlines  two weeks ago, but little was really known about the five men detained by police.
 Officers told the world they were suspected of weapons crimes and planning a terror strike, and were enthralled in a far-right ideology.
 Iltalehti  went to Kankaanpää , located near Pori in the south-western region of Satakunta, to find out more about the Nazis' environment.
 The town is no stranger to far-right activity. When an asylum reception centre opened in 2015, one of the buildings was burned to the ground. That police investigation is still ongoing, and the reception centre has long since closed.
 IL reports that Facebook groups set up around the same time shared information about the movements of asylum seekers in the town.
 The same groups said they would be willing to establish street patrols if they felt it necessary.
 The suspects in this latest terror plot were a familiar sight in Kankaanpää nightlife, reports Iltalehti, but their everyday life was probably pretty similar to Nazis in larger cities.
 "Most of their activities are the same regardless of the location: distributing propaganda," said Tommi Kotonen of Jyväskylä University. "Stickers can be stuck, and they train among themselves."
 Iltalehti reports that pictures of  Adolf Hitler  have been placed around the town, along with stickers from the banned Nordic resistance Movement.
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 Election kickoff
 Helsingin Sanomat has a lot of politics on Thursday. The paper's monthly poll  is out , showing a continued lead for the National Coalition Party, with the SDP in second spot and the Finns Party in third.
 HS also publishes its  election compass  ahead of the county council elections due on 22 January 2022.
 The goal of the compass is to allow voters to differentiate between the candidates, by giving them a set of statements they can agree or disagree with and analysing how each candidate's answers stack up in relation to the voter's.
 The compass then offers a list of candidates and parties that hold opinions most similar to the voter who also filled in the compass.
 The HS election compass is only available in Finnish, but Yle's will be published in English too.
 Kiuru's Covid campaign
 Ilta-Sanomat takes a look at the recently-elevated profile of  Krista Kiuru  (SDP), the Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services who has been prominent in announcing and pushing for tougher lines on Covid mitigation measures.
 Last Friday she fronted a  ministry effort to beef up testing , urging people to do more rapid tests to track the spread of Covid and isolate when necessary.
 Since then she has been the one to announce tighter restrictions on international arrivals, and her statements have been increasingly at odds with those of the National Institute for Health and welfare, THL.
 This bigger role in fronting Covid policy seems to have come at the expense of Prime Minister  Sanna Marin , her Social Democratic Party comrade who has hit the headlines for less strict interpretations of Covid rules and seems to have taken a back seat on Covid policy herself.
 Ilta-Sanomat  carries  anonymous quotes from MPs and government sources on the situation. One SDP MP says this is the leadership that has been lacking, while others suggest it is a return to normal: Kiuru is taking the lead as the minister responsible for Covid policy.
 Sources elsewhere in the government suggest that Marin is taking a back seat because she finds it difficult to admit she may have made a mistake in advocating a broad reopening of society.
 Either way, taking the lead on Covid remains a poisoned chalice, and with Kiuru happy to take difficult and unpopular decisions, it's unlikely anyone else will want to take her role soon.

Thursday's papers: Small-town Nazis, election kickoff, and Kiuru's Covid action


Summary: A warmer winter and improvements in energy production saw emissions fall by 9 percent year-on-year.

Finland's total greenhouse gas emissions for 2020 fell by 9 percent compared to 2019, Statistics Finland revealed in a  press release.
 The drop can be explained by a mild winter as well as structural changes in electricity production and a decrease in transportation traffic. The country's larger emitter, the energy sector, recorded a reduction of 11 percent in emissions compared to last year.
 According to preliminary data, the total amount emitted by Finland in 2020 equates to 48.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2  eq.).
 "It is promising, and I would say that nine percent is not huge, it's not unprecedented but it is really good," senior statistician  Sini Niinistö  at the agency told Yle News, adding that there is a clear downward trend since 2003, despite some fluctuations, as expected.
 Finland is likely to succeed in adhering to EU and Kyoto Protocol emission reduction obligations for the years between 2013 and 2020. This will be confirmed once international reviews are completed in autumn 2022.
 The total emissions for 2020 are also 32 percent lower than the emissions recorded in 1990. Current national climate change policy aims for a reduction of at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.
 However, the yearly emission allocations under the EU Effort Sharing Decision grow smaller year by year, according to Niinistö, meaning that sticking to goals is becoming progressively more challenging.
 "Although the drop was quite good for 2019 and 2020, we still barely made it under the emission reduction targets," she said.
 While factors such as weather can largely affect emissions, policy that favours renewables over fossil fuels could go a long way, Niinistö added.

Sharp drop in Finland's greenhouse gas emissions


Summary: The reactor was originally set to begin operations in 2009 but has been set back by repeated delays and cost overruns.

After more than a decade of delays, the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (Stuk) has finally given the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor the green light to begin operations. It was originally scheduled to go online in 2009.
 "The criticality and low power test permission granted today [...] means that the company can start the nuclear reaction in the Olkiluoto 3 reactor (OL3) for the first time," Stuk's  press statement  reads.
 STUK added that the commissioning tests, including re-testing after modifications, have shown that the plant is operating as planned. According to estimates, the generator will begin providing energy to the grid in February. The unit is expected to be running at full capacity by June.
 Project Manager  Essi Vanhanen  says that the commissioning process has been "a learning lesson for all the parties involved."
 The Olkiluoto nuclear power plant has been operating since 1979 in Eurajoki, near Rauma on Finland's west coast. Its second unit, OL2, went online in 1982. Plans for a fourth reactor were abandoned in 2015.

Olkiluoto 3 reactor granted license


Summary: Finland's leading health officials struck a concerned tone at Thursday's weekly Covid briefing.

Finland has confirmed 34 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, said health officials at a briefing on Thursday.
 The figure is on a clear upward trend in Finland, with sequencing set to continue nationwide.
 The variant appears to be more highly transmissible than previous strains, and has led to steep rises in case counts in other countries.
 In Finland some 10,500 Covid infections were recorded last week, with 360 infections per 100,000 residents over the last 14 days.
 On Thursday the THL said that nearly 2,000 new cases had been confirmed within the past 24 hours, following Wednesday's record daily high of 2,225 new infections.
 Three quarters of target group boosted
 At the briefing officials also said some 560,000 people in Finland had received their third dose of Covid vaccine, representing some 75 percent of those for whom THL recommends a booster jab.
 That group includes those in risk groups, those caring for Covid patients, those working at care homes and those who had their first two doses of vaccine within six weeks of each other.
 Those who have had two doses and are healthy have less of an urgent need for a booster shot. Some municipalities have however begun administering third shots to residents under age 60.
 Taneli Puumalainen , the head of THL's Infectious Diseases Control and Vaccines Unit, said that municipalities estimate they are able to deliver some 500,000 doses of vaccine a week, with the private sector capacity at around 100,000 on top of that.
 The pace of booster jab delivery is expected to quicken now, after the flu vaccination season ended.
 The intensive care situation has recently changed in that there are now more cases outside the Helsinki region. The patient load has particularly risen in the hospital districts of Northern Ostrobothnia, including Oulu, and Pirkanmaa, which includes Tampere.
 As of Wednesday there were 46 patients in ICUs.
 13:30 Updated with details throughout.

THL: 34 Omicron cases in Finland so far


Summary: Tightening border rules is part of Finland's response to the Omicron variant.

Finland has begun requiring people arriving from Norway, Denmark or Britain take Covid tests at the border, regardless of vaccination status. The requirement entered into force immediately on Thursday afternoon.
 Finland also recommends that people coming from those countries take a pre-departure Covid test within 48 hours of their journey.
 In addition to these new rules, the government meets on Thursday to rubberstamp a plan to demand pre-departure Covid tests, which must be no older than 48 hours, from people travelling to Finland from non-Schengen countries.
 Once approved, that rule is to come into effect from next Tuesday.
 Family Affairs and Social Services minister  Krista Kiuru  (SDP) and Interior Minister  Krista Mikkonen  (Green) announced the Schengen area decisions earlier this week.
 The Ministry for Social Affairs and Health has sent new instructions to the regions on slowing the spread of the more infectious Omicron variant. It is scheduled to hold a press briefing on Thursday evening.
 Travellers from UK, Norway, Denmark, Nigeria without tests face exams
 They are planning to ask municipalities with border crossings to direct travellers from Britain, Norway, Denmark and Nigeria to compulsory health examinations if they cannot show a negative test result no older than 48 hours.
 This will apply to vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Finnish citizens and those with permanent residence permits cannot be prevented from entering the country, however.
 THL recommended these measures to the ministry based on infection rates in those countries. The agency also said that Sweden should be included in the measures, as the Omicron variant is certain to spread there quickly from Denmark.

Finland to Covid-test arrivals from UK, Norway and Denmark


Summary: Protecting the population and maintaining healthcare capacity during the pandemic are compelling reasons to justify exceptionally far-reaching government action, the committee said.

The Finnish Parliament's Constitutional Law Committee on Thursday approved a requirement that social and health care personnel be vaccinated against coronavirus.
 The cross-party committee declared unanimously that the bill is constitutional, making its ratification likely. Several previous proposed coronavirus measures have been blocked by the committee.
 The centre-left government has proposed adding a temporary clause to the Communicable Diseases Act that would require social and health workers to be vaccinated. It could come into force soon after approval by the full legislature.
 Speaker of Parliament  Anu Vehviläinen  (Cen) tweeted on Wednesday that Parliament is preparing to vote on the vaccination bill between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
 The law would require employers to ensure that staff working with patients and clients at risk do not pose a risk of infecting them.
 Fundamental human rights at issue
 According to the committee, protecting the health of the population and maintaining healthcare capacity during the pandemic are compelling reasons to justify exceptionally far-reaching government action that affects fundamental human rights.
 The powerful committee, which includes members from nearly all the parties in the legislature, is chaired by MP  Johanna Ojala-Niemelä  from the prime minister's Social Democratic Party.
 The committee noted that there are clearly acceptable grounds for requiring jabs and that the regulation is proportionate. According to the committee, this is not a compulsory vaccination, but notes that requiring shots has an indirect effect on the fundamental rights of people working in the social and health sectors.
 In its declaration, the panel stressed that the aim is to protect patients who are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, for whom the disease can be fatal.
 Worries about supply of caregivers
 According to the cabinet's proposal, an employer would not be obliged to pay wages to an unvaccinated employee who do not accept another offered position, or for whom alternative work cannot be found.
 A negative Covid test result less 72 hours old before beginning each shift would be an option for a worker with a valid medical reason for not taking the vaccine.
 The constitutional committee emphasised that access to social and health services must be closely monitored, as there is a labour shortage in the sector and the government predicts that requiring vaccinations could exacerbate the situation.
 The committee called on the Social Affairs and Health Committee to also evaluate the justifications for the proposal.
 In early December, Minister of Family and Basic Services  Krista Kiuru  (SDP) said that the Chancellor of Justice had said that vaccination could be required to protect the lives and health of clients and patients.

Constitutional committee backs vaccine requirement for social and health workers