COVID-19 pandemic in Finland

The first case of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Finland was confirmed on 29 January 2020, when a Chinese tourist visiting Ivalo from Wuhan tested positive for the virus.

Background
On 31 December 2019, the Health Commission of Wuhan, Hubei, China, informed the WHO about a large number of acute pneumonia cases with unknown origin in its province. On 9 January 2020, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) reported the identification of the SARS-CoV-2 as the cause. 

On 27 January, following the developments of COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China, Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs advised citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Hubei province. The following day, Finnair announced it would be ending its five weekly routes to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March.

Numbers
On 30 January, Finland's health officials said that up to 24 Finnish people may have the virus.

Response
On 16 March, the president declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19. 272 laboratory-confirmed cases caused by COVID-19 had been diagnosed in Finland by 16 March 2020 at 2 pm. 

References

Category:2020s in Finland
Finland