The use of the Covid passport will be restricted to areas of the Community distribution phase. Bars and restaurants whose main business is the sale of alcoholic beverages should stop serving by 5pm and close by 6pm.
Dining restaurants can keep their doors open until 8pm if they require a Covid Pass from each guest.
Most of the country is now in the community infection phase, with the exception of parts of Eastern Finland (Kainuu, North Karelia and Eastern Savonia) and Åland.
Avi: A particularly serious situation in Uusimaa
The Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland (Avi) states that the situation in Covid is particularly serious in Uusimaa, which includes the Helsinki metropolitan area, where all public events and meetings are prohibited on 17 January. with the exception of the Covid passport. use.
The Avi closure order means that almost all public and private sports and recreation facilities must be closed. This includes public saunas and swimming pools, dance venues and choir, amateur theater and similar group activities, indoor playgrounds, amusement and theme parks, and zoo interiors.
However, the facilities can be used for guided recreational activities for children and young people under the age of 18, as well as for medical rehabilitation, professional sports or family activities.
Border controls will be tightened until at least mid-January
Internal audits at Finland’s borders have also been re-introduced until 16 January.
Those entering Finland from the Schengen area must present a certificate of a full series of vaccinations or recovery from Covid-19 during the last six months, as well as a certificate of a negative Covid PCR or antigen test result for the last 48 hours.
The test result is not required for Finnish citizens or permanent residents. However, many transit countries, airlines and shipping companies may have their own test requirements.
The Schengen area covers all EU countries except Ireland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus, as well as four non-EU EFTA countries: Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Source: The Nordic Page