SIGNS OF A BABY BOOM caused by the coronavirus pandemic have begun to emerge in Southern Finland.
Aydin Tekay, the chief physician in charge of obstetrics at the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) revealed to STT on Monday that the number of babies born in the spring is expected to increase significantly from last year.
The number of first-trimester screenings, the news agency reported, has jumped by 10 per cent from the previous year in Espoo and Helsinki. Growth has been registered also in other parts of the hospital district.
“We’ll find out in February whether the prediction is accurate, but I’m guessing we’ll have quite a busy March.”
Tekay said HUS registered only a marginal increase in the number of births in January, but the increase is expected to be more substantial in February. He estimated that the thought of having a child began to appeal to families last summer, meaning the number of births should spike between March and April.
The lockdown instituted over the pandemic contrastively appears to have had no impact on the number of births in the capital region.
“People stayed patient and fairly cautious during the lockdown. If conceptions did happen, it should’ve been visible in the numbers for November and December, which were clearly on the decline.”
Statistics Finland has published preliminary statistics indicating that the number of births nationwide rose by almost 850 year-on-year to 46,452 in 2020.
STT on Monday wrote that an increase is expected also at Turku University Hospital. Eeva Ekholm, the chief specialist of obstetrics and gynaecology at Turku University Hospital, stated to the news agency that the number of people giving birth was almost unchanged from last year in January, but the number of due dates is higher than last year for February and March.
“There’s a modest increase, but it’s less than five per cent,” she said.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
