Euro 2020: June 11-July 11
Finland fans bring virus home
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Finland fans cheering their team on in St Petersburg against hosts Russia, who won the Euro 2020 Group B match 1-0. Some 24,540 supporters were at the 68,000-capacity Krestovsky Stadium for that June 16 game.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
HELSINKI • Finnish football fans returning from Russia after Euro 2020 matches have caused a spike in their country's daily coronavirus cases, Finnish health authorities said on Thursday.
The Finnish national team suffered two defeats in St Petersburg this month and nearly 100 infections have since been recorded at two border crossings, mostly among returning fans.
The total of daily new cases has since risen from around 50 to over 100, according to official data.
"These are people who have been at the games. Clearly it has spread surprisingly well there, considering that Finns have mostly interacted with each other but contracted the virus in just a few days," said Risto Pietikainen, chief physician for the hospital district covering the main crossing point.
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) confirmed that almost 100 infections had been diagnosed among Finns who had travelled to St Petersburg and the number was likely to grow.
Most infections were found in people on 15 buses that left the city for Finland on Tuesday.
Authorities expect more people to test positive in the coming days because of the long incubation period of the virus and because they were not able to test all arriving fans before the main crossing point closed on Tuesday evening.
Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin has also joined the THL in calling for Finns who returned home after Monday's 2-0 loss to Belgium in St Petersburg - where the stadium was allowed up to 50 per cent of its 68,134 capacity - to take a Covid-19 test.
Russia on Thursday reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus infections and 568 deaths, as it battles a surging outbreak of the Delta variant.
In Denmark, health authorities on Thursday urged 4,000 spectators to get tested after they confirmed three Danish fans were infected with the Delta variant while attending the 2-1 loss to Belgium last week. They also said there have been 29 cases of infection in connection with the three matches in Copenhagen.
Last month, Portugal's health authority urged all who got up close to Champions League celebrations in Porto to monitor for symptoms.
Some 16,500 fans were allowed into the stadium to watch the clash between Chelsea and Manchester City, while big crowds of English fans, who were largely not wearing masks and did not socially distance, took over Porto's riverside area to drink and chant team slogans. There were no reported coronavirus cases from that event.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
