Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) spoke to reporters outside the Parliament House in Helsinki on Wednesday, 8 December 2021. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)

PRIME MINISTER Sanna Marin (SDP) has issued an apology for her actions last weekend.

“I should’ve used better judgement and refrained from going out, refrained from being around other people,” she stated before a group of reporters behind the Parliament House in Helsinki on Wednesday. “I apologise for my actions and behaviour.”

Processing of parcels at the Posti logistic centre in Vantaa on 2nd of December 2021. The christmas season is the busiest time of the year for Posti.

Christmas is approaching, and soon it will be time to show your loved ones near and far that you’re thinking about them. The mailing dates for Christmas greetings within Finland will soon be upon us. If you’re sending greetings to Europe, it is a good idea to act quickly.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Greens) tested positive for the new coronavirus on Saturday. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva)

THE FINNISH GOVERNMENT has taken precautionary measures following the coronavirus infection of Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Greens).

Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko (Centre), for example, will be replaced in meetings of the Eurogroup and Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday by Maria Kaisa Aula, a state secretary at the Ministry of Finance, according to a tweet sent by the Ministry of Finance.

Rooftops in Töölö, Helsinki, on 12 October 2021. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)

PRELIMINARY DATA from Statistics Finland indicates that the prices of old dwellings in housing companies crept up by 3.6 per cent year-on-year in October.

The sales of old dwellings brokered by real estate agencies increasing by almost two per cent from the previous year, pushing up prices in all of the largest cities and major population centres except for municipalities surrounding the capital region and municipalities in Eastern Finland.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) was photographed arriving at the Parliament House in Helsinki on 24 November 2021. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)

PRIME MINISTER Sanna Marin (SDP) has come under criticism for going to a nightclub following news about the coronavirus infection of Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Greens).

Marin went to a nightclub in Helsinki between Saturday and Sunday, after being notified of the infection and being told that other cabinet members need not quarantine themselves if they have received two vaccine injections.

Toni Sjöblom, a detective superintendent at Southwest Finland Police Department, spoke at a news conference organised in Pori Police Station on Friday, 3 December 2021. (Juha Sinisalo – Lehtikuva)

FIVE YOUNG MEN in Satakunta, south-western Finland, have been detained on suspicion of terrorist offences.

The District Court of Satakunta on Friday detained four of the roughly 25-year-old men on suspicion of preparation of an offence to be committed with terrorist intent and explosives offence committed with terrorist intent. The fifth man, in turn, was detained only on suspicion of preparation of an offence to be committed with terrorist intent.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) attended a plenary session in the Parliament House in Helsinki on 26 November 2021. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva)

PRIME MINISTER Sanna Marin (SDP) broke internal government instructions by going to a nightclub after being notified of her exposure to the new coronavirus on Saturday, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

Iltalehti on Tuesday revealed that a general government directive updated late last month states that the government and staff at its ministers are encouraged to avoid contact as soon as they have been notified of exposure to the virus.

Power lines in Vantaa on 17 January 2021. Low temperatures have driven up demand for electricity in Finland. (Ritva Siltalahti – Lehtikuva)

LOW TEMPERATURES will drive up electricity prices substantially in Finland on Tuesday, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

Data from Nord Pool, an electricity exchange co-owned by transmission system operators in the Baltics and Nordics, indicates that the market price of electricity will surge to about 1,000 euros per megawatt-hour at 7–8am on Tuesday.

Chilean and US scientists looking at a solar eclipse from the Union Glacier in Antarctica on December 4, 2021. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

Here are the most eye-catching news images of this week, from all around the world.

Nurses turning over a patient in intensive care with Covid-19 in Seinäjoki Central Hospital on 2 December 2021. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)

THE DEMAND for intensive care is rising across Finland.

YLE on Wednesday reported that a total of 54 patients are presently in intensive care with the coronavirus disease, highlighting that most of the patients are being treated outside the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS).

Almost one in four workers (22.4%) in Finland usually worked from home during 2020, according to new analyses published in Eurofound’s recent research report What just happened? COVID-19 lockdowns and change in the labour market. This is the highest proportion across the EU, where the average is 10.8%.

Seven cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in Finland as of Saturday, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said.

"Finland has identified seven cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant so far. All identified cases are related to the same chain of infections," the THL said in a statement.

LEHTIKUVA / SUOMEN TULLIN HANDOUT

Based on a request from the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, Customs has conducted preliminary investigations into sales of alcohol from other European countries to Finland. The investigations are now complete, and criminal charges will be considered next.

A nurse in an operating room in Kainuu Central Hospital in Kajaani on 8 July 2020. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

THE FINNISH PARLIAMENT will this week mull over a legislative amendment that would signal a step toward decreeing that nurses, physicians and other social and health care professionals must be vaccinated against Covid-19, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

The amendment to the communicable diseases act would effectively make the vaccinations mandatory possibly under the threat of loss of pay.

A Venezuelan girl rolled up her sleeve to show her arm after receiving a shot of a coronavirus vaccine in Cucuta, Colombia, on 13 November 2021. (Yuri Cortez – AFP/Lehtikuva)

THE FINNISH INSTITUTE for Health and Welfare (THL) is recommending that third vaccine doses be offered to all 18-year-olds and older in Finland.

THL on Thursday stated that the third doses should be administered five to six months after the second – also in the case of people who have been identified as beneficiaries of the third injection earlier, such as over 60-year-olds, people vaccinated at shorter intervals and social and health care professionals treating coronavirus patients.