Morning magazines, including the country’s largest daily circulation, Helsingin sanomat newspaperspeculate that the prime minister’s government Sanna Marin (SDP) is prepared to impose stricter travel restrictions by stopping almost all cross – border traffic than necessary business travel.
In addition, testing at airports, seaports and land borders is likely to increase significantly.
HS took over an overview of the government’s legal alternatives are if it decides to impose these restrictions.
The biggest concern at the moment is the proliferation of coronavirus alternatives. At present, there are 47 confirmed cases of the British variant in Finland and two variants were first identified in South Africa. So far, almost all infections caused by these variants have been associated with travelers arriving from abroad.
However, according to the HS, some of the measures the government has sought to reduce travel have encountered legal obstacles.
Legislative changes are coming. Parliament’s committees have been reviewing changes to the Communicable Diseases Act this week. Although it is being monitored quickly, this new legislation will not be put to the vote in Parliament until the beginning of February.
Some experts interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat point out that the government may once again turn to the Emergency Powers Act, but its provisions are also not sufficient for full pandemic control.
Last autumn, the government drafted a bill that would have allowed incoming passengers to be quarantined if they came from an area where the incidence of the disease in a two-week period was at least double that of Finland and the infection rate was one per thousand. This proposal was shot down before it could come before Parliament.
Martin Scheinin, a professor of research in international law, last week proposed to the government a separate law restricting freedom of movement under Article 23 of the Constitution, allowing temporary exceptions to fundamental rights where necessary in exceptional circumstances that pose a serious threat to the people.
He pointed out that if the government does this, Finland must also submit an emergency report to the Council of Europe and the United Nations.
Trip canceled and delayed
Turku Turku Sanomat says at least a thousand passengers have had to cancel or delay the booking of flights from the United Kingdom with the Finnish national airline Finnair before the ban came into force on 21 December. The ban on direct flights to the United Kingdom will be in force on at least 18 January.
In addition to Great Britain, air traffic to Finland was suspended this week from Ireland and South Africa.
According to Finnair, most passengers on canceled flights have postponed their travel plans.
Finnair has continued some flights from Finland to the United Kingdom. These flights are flown on demand as the planes have to return empty or as cargo flights. Finnair has also routed some flights from the United Kingdom via Prague and Brussels. Prior to the flight ban, Finnair had two daily return flights to London and weekly flights to Dublin, Edinburgh and Manchester.
Political bias in schools?
Kaleva from Oulu is one of the magazines carry the report that the nationalist Finnish Party argues that teaching in Finnish schools is against the biased party and its principles.
The party’s youth organization has asked social media students to present their experiences of how the Finnish party and party supporters are treated in schools.
Chairman of the Finnish Party Youth Organization, Miko Bergbom, tweeted on Tuesday that several young people had contacted him and told him that they had been bullied, discriminated against and belittled for supporting the party.
The Finnish MP is now in a deleted message Jani Mäkelä also posted a call on Twitter asking for examples of party bias in schools, saying the matter would be discussed with the National Board of Education.
The teachers ’union OAJ responded by stating that it does not tolerate any kind of political campaign aimed at educators. It called on all teachers who felt targeted or threatened to report it to their supervisor and safety representative.
On Wednesday evening, the Finnish Party’s youth organization issued a press release stating that the group’s transfer was misunderstood and banning it from collecting teachers ‘, schools’ or personal information.
Dangerously cold
Most morning newspapers report that much of the country has very cold temperatures, up to -30 ° C or more, as early as Thursday night.
By Evening News, the warnings in force in these areas mean that the cold can adversely affect outdoor activities and people with various chronic diseases may experience more symptoms than usual.
The only areas not affected by the warning are Southern Uusimaa, Southwest Finland, Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme, Kymenlaakso and South Karelia, as well as the northernmost parts of Lapland.
Source: The Nordic Page