Setting restrictions on young people was particularly painful, the minister of education and culture said Annika Saarikko (Center).
The Finnish government announced that next week it would present a proposal to close bars, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs in areas that are in the process of accelerating or spreading the epidemic for three weeks. According to it, facilities would be subject to restrictions on maximum capacity and opening hours even after a shutdown.
Marin assured that the institutions will be compensated for the financial losses caused by the closure in accordance with a system to be established by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
The government also calls for the introduction of the strictest restricted zones during the spread of the epidemic in the Community in order to adopt the strictest, so-called second-level restrictions. The seven areas of the transfer phase are Kanta-Häme, Lapland, Satakunta, Southwest Finland, Uusimaa, Vaasa and Åland.
According to it, additional restrictions are also required in the areas of the acceleration phase: Central Finland, Eastern Savonia, Kymenlaakso, Western Ostrobothnia, Northern Ostrobothnia, Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme, South Karelia and South Ostrobothnia.
For example, second-level restrictions limit all types of gatherings to six people.
Municipalities in such areas also need to step up their efforts to enforce quarantine orders and make use of the powers conferred on them by the recently amended law on communicable diseases. The law allows regional authorities, for example, to temporarily close private premises.
“You can call this operation the final spurt,” the interior minister described Maria Ohisalo (Greens), “which we use to accelerate towards brighter times.”
The government announced yesterday that it is still ready to declare a state of emergency due to the coronavirus epidemic next week. However, the law on emergency power, which allows it to restrict numerous fundamental rights, is not currently invoked.
“For example, we are not imposing a curfew,” the justice minister said Anna-Maja Henriksson (SFP).
The government and the president declared an epidemic of emergency on March 16, 2020, setting limits on people’s daily lives in Finland. Personal teaching was suspended at all levels of education, public facilities and hobby facilities were closed, a broad-based telework recommendation was introduced, and public gatherings were limited to 10 people.
The exercise of emergency powers also allowed the government to disregard the annual leave and working hours of critical health care professionals. On March 27, the government also announced the closure of Uusimaa, Finland’s most populous region.
The lock was lifted on April 14, while other restrictions were gradually lifted during May. In June, it was stated that the epidemic could be managed with regular forces and that the state of emergency had been lifted.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page