Finnish Minister of Family and Social Affairs Who is Linden (SDP) spoke Helsingin Sanomat about the deteriorating Covid situation in Finland.
The government’s coronavir virus working group met for the first time in four weeks on Tuesday.
"Although no one suggested new restrictions, the general feeling of the meeting was worrying," said Linden.
Currently, about 900 Covid patients are in hospitals. On Monday, 45 of these patients were in intensive care. When the restrictions began to be lifted in January, about 600 such patients were treated in hospitals.
Lindén estimates that Covid treatment still takes up at least 10 percent of hospital capacity.
However, he reiterated that no new restrictions on epidemics are coming. His line was if the number of patients rises above 1,500.
"1,500 patients would put us in a terrible situation," Linden said.
The minister’s message is that Covid has not evaporated and the epidemic continues. He advocates for booster vaccines and suggests people reconsider attending events with a large number of people, especially if they have flu-like symptoms.
While the Covid spike is facing the rest of Europe, a similar wave has lagged behind in Finland. Lindén said recent developments in the UK are worrying. Despite widespread immunity, which strengthens the sustainability of public health, the workload of hospitals remains high.
Finnish aviation is struggling
Kauppalehti reports struggles in the aviation sector. On the domestic front, regional flights have been a state-sponsored livelihood support for the past two years.
After the start of the Covid crisis in the spring of 2020, Finnair suspended regional flights to Jouensuu, Jyväskylä, Kemi, Kokkola-Pietarsaari and Kajaani for six months. After that, the state began to support Helsinki flights from these airports.
In addition, the state began to pay for flights from Helsinki to Savonlinna through the southeastern city. At the same time, western Pori is also financing the route to Helsinki.
Many of these airports struggled with declining traffic even before Covidia, but the pandemic accelerated this development.
"During the Covid period, these flights did not have enough demand for market traffic," President and CEO of Finavia Kimmo Mäkitold Kauppalehti.
The Finnish government has decided to support regional flights until mid-August. After that, the goal is to move towards a market-based approach.
Also Kauppalehti reported the response of the aviation industry to the effects of the war in Ukraine.
Although flights to Asia have decreased as a result of the closure of Russian airspace, Finavia’s long-term outlook is positive.
Russia’s airspace ban is detrimental to Asian passenger traffic, but is currently somewhat insignificant, as traffic on these routes continues to decline due to Covid restrictions.
"In European transport, we are on the rise and rising," said the director of Helsinki-Vantaa Ulla Letjeff.
"Airlines now see next summer as very hopeful and confident," he added.
I take Nazi documents
Evening columnist Iida Tanicomments on the controversy surrounding Yle’s new series of documentaries, Finnish girls (roughly, Finnish Maidens), who has been criticized for praising racism and Nazism.
"Finnish girls normalizes hate speech, racism and discrimination in a way I don’t remember seeing for a while," writes Iida Tani.
"Worst of all, the blatant racism in the program is disguised as nationalism and patriotism," he continues.
Yle is the target of the production and carrying of the series, where its subjects claim that non-whites are not Finns and that multiculturalism harms Finland. In the publicity images of the series, one of the women’s themes in the program is seen wearing a t-shirt with the word “National Socialist” on it.
National Socialism is the ideology that guided Adolf Hitler’s government in the 1930s and 1940s. It led to the murder of millions of people and the attempt to exterminate Jews, Roma, Sinti and other minorities, as well as the persecution of LGBT groups and other minorities and political opponents.
In Yle’s program, the woman is going on a fishing trip, among other things.
Ville Vilén, Yle ‘s creative director, defended the series in Yle’ s article published on Tuesday. He noted that nationalism and related phenomena are not new and these people will simply not disappear. Vilén argued that Yle’s role is to shed light on these social issues.
Tani agreed with Vilén, but added a warning.
"Vilén is right. Sweeping under the rug does not promote the debate that is still needed in Finland. What matters most, however, is how the media presents things. A series in which openly racist people fall victim because life in today’s liberal society is so difficult is not the way to go."
Tani disputed Yle’s description of the subjects in the series, arguing that Yle painted them too favorably.
"Racism and National Socialism are not synonymous with populism and conservatism. They are blatant human rights violations that should not be leveled or normalized."
Source: The Nordic Page