Mika Salminen, the head of health security at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), provided an update on the coronavirus epidemic in Finland in Helsinki on Thursday, 29 October 2020. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)

THE DAILY NUMBER of people infected with the new coronavirus appears to have stabilised in Finland.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on Thursday announced in a news conference that the incidence of new cases, the number of analysed samples and the share of positive samples have stayed almost unchanged for a couple of weeks.

Pedestrians crossing the road in Helsinki on 23 May 2020. Over 70 per cent of Finns view that it has been fairly or very easy to cope with the restrictions adopted to fight the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new Eurobarometer. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)

FINNS have tolerated the various restrictions on movement and social life adopted to fight the coronavirus outbreak better than people in other parts of Europe, indicates a Eurobarometer released in October.

As many as 73 per cent of Finns estimated that coping with the restrictions has been fairly easy or very easy – even to the extent that the restrictions have improved their quality of life.

A photograph of a blackmail message sent to an individual following the hacking of Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

THE NATIONAL BUREAU of Investigation (KRP) has revealed it has received 13,500 reports of an offence in connection with the hacking and blackmailing case revolving around Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo.

“That number is from late Tuesday afternoon, and it’s rising all the time because of delays in recording,” Tero Muurman, a detective chief inspector at KRP, told Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday.

A Finnair aircraft at the uncharacteristically quiet Helsinki Airport on Wednesday, 28 October 2020. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)

FINNAIR did not get the lift under its wings it was hoping for in the third quarter of the year, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

The Finnish majority state-owned airline reported yesterday that its third-quarter revenue fell from 865 million to 97 million euros and passenger numbers from 4.1 million to 500,000 between 2019 and 2020. Its operating result consequently plunged 183 million euros into the red, adding to the losses of 171 million euros reported between April and June.

An office of Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo in Malmi, Helsinki, on 26 October 2020. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

THE CEO of Intera Partners, the Finnish equity capital firm that acquired Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo in mid-2019, on Tuesday revealed to Helsingin Sanomat that the acquisition would not have taken place had the firm had knowledge of the data breaches and data security problems at Vastaamo.

CEO Jokke Paananen told the newspaper that neither the majority owner nor the board of executives of the psychotherapy service provider was informed of the hacking that took place in March 2019.

The Finnish government has committed to halving emissions from transport by 2030 and eliminating them entirely by 2045. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)

A TASK FORCE at the Ministry of Transport and Communications says Finland should raise its target for the number of electric vehicles on its roads significantly and increase the cost of carbon dioxide emissions from cars – one way or the other, report YLE and Helsingin Sanomat.

The task force published its report on measures to halve emissions from transport from the levels of 2005 by 2030 and eliminate them entirely by 2045.

Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo recently announced its database was hacked almost two years ago, possibly compromising the personal privacy of tens of thousands of its clients. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

NEARLY 10 MILLION EUROS’ WORTH of the assets of Ville Tapio, the newly fired chief executive of Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo, and his parents has been seized as a precautionary measure, report Ilta-Sanomat and MTV Uutiset.

The seizure order was issued at the request of the majority owner of the service provider, PTK Midco, by the District Court of Helsinki.

A girl studied at home in Espoo on 27 April 2020. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE in Finland engaged in considerably less physical activity during the coronavirus-disrupted spring than previously, reports the UKK Institute.

The Tampere-based private research organisation reported today that it monitored the activity levels of 255 children in years one, three, five, seven and nine of basic education with wearable motion sensors during the first week of May.

Ville Tapio was relieved of his duties as the chief executive of Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo on Monday 26 October 2020. (Jukka Gröndahl – HS)

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of Psychotherapy Centre Vastaamo knew about the hacking of the service provider’s server provider for 18 months before the hacking was made pubic, Tuomas Kahri, the board chairperson at Vastaamo, revealed to Ilta-Sanomat on Monday.

Vastaamo, he added, has also relieved from duties its first and only chief executive, Ville Tapio. Tapio had been suspended from his duties about 10 days earlier.

Patria, a Finnish state-owned military equipment maker, test drove its armoured modular vehicle in Hämeenlinna, Finland, on 14 March 2019. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)

LACK OF TRANSPARENCY in Finnish arms exports makes it difficult to evaluate the arms export policy of Finland, states a report by SaferGlobe.

STT on Monday said the Helsinki-based peace and security think tank states in its newly published report that the transparency of arms exports is being eroded by the fact that the export licence applications are granted and communicated separately by various authorities, each with their own communication protocols.