300 Supporters Who Came Home From Euro 2020 Add Finland's COVID-19 Cases

JAKARTA - Finnish fans returning from supporting their national team at Euro 2020 have increased the number of COVID-19 cases in the Baltic country.

According to the Finnish health authorities, at least 300 football fans have contracted COVID-19, Antara reported from Reuters on Tuesday.

It is believed that this will encourage the addition of positive cases of COVID-19 in Finland in recent days, which this week was at the level of more than 200 cases per day.

"Looking at their age group, it's clear most have not received two doses of the vaccine," said Mika Salminen, head of safety at the Finnish Institute of Health.

Finland's official data says more than 200 COVID-19 infections brought from Russia were detected among people living in metropolitan areas such as Helsinki.

"The key question is, will there be a chain of transmission. Now it looks like we can't lower the level of tightening in Helsinki," Salminen said.

The institute estimates that 4,500 to 6,500 Finnish fans will travel to Saint Petersburg, Russia, to watch the national team at Euro 2020.

Finnish authorities are still trying to track down all the supporters and warned they may have passed the virus on to their relatives in the crowds last weekend.

Last week, Russian authorities said the Delta variant was responsible for the spike in cases and deaths in major cities including Saint Petersburg, which is still scheduled to host the Euro 2020 quarter-final match between Switzerland and Spain on Friday, June 2.

Finland is currently one of the least impacted countries from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the country of 5.5 million people registering 95,387 cases, 969 deaths, and 29 hospitalizations.