Over 90% of coronavirus fatalities in Finland had at least one chronic disease, says THL

“The epidemic has in no way evened out,” Lasse Lehtonen, the head of diagnostic services at HUS, highlighted on Twitter.

The official death toll from the new coronavirus rose by four to 190 between Saturday and Sunday. THL on Sunday said further details are available on 140 of the 190 fatalities, revealing that 51 per cent of them are male, their median age is 84 years and over 90 per cent of them had one or more chronic diseases – most commonly diabetes or heart disease.

The number of deaths remained at “fewer than five” in each of the age groups of 30–39 years, 40–49 years and 50–59 years. The number of deaths in the 60–69 age group stood at nine, in the 70–79 age group at 28, in the 80–89 at 67 and in the over-90 age group at 31.

A preliminary estimate based on the number of infections reported at least two weeks ago that have not been supplemented with updates about the course of the disease suggests that at least 2,500 people have recovered from the virus in Finland.

The epidemic has yet to induce a spike in the number of deaths, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

Statistics Finland on Friday published preliminary data indicating that the number of deaths decreased by roughly 250 from the previous year to 4,599 in March 2020. The average number of deaths in the third month of the year has been 4,590 in the 2000s.

Oskari Luomala, a statistician at THL, reminded Helsingin Sanomat that the data may not be complete starting from the week between 30 March and 5 April.

“You should keep in mind that the data could still be supplemented when going back four weeks or so,” he said. “The statistics are updated belatedly. Some 60–70 per cent of deaths are entered into the population register within a week of the day of death; 90 per cent of all deaths are added to the register within two weeks.”

Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: Uusi Suomi