Finland aims to tackle rising Covid-19 cases by curbing bars' opening hours
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Starting on Christmas eve, bars will have to stop serving alcohol at 9pm and close at 10pm.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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HELSINKI (REUTERS) - Finland will restrict restaurants' opening hours to curb rising Covid-19 infections and the spread of the new Omicron variant, the government said on Wednesday (Dec 22).
Starting on Christmas eve, bars will have to stop serving alcohol at 9pm and close at 10pm.
From Dec 28 onwards, alcohol can be served only until 5pm and bars need to close by 6pm and restaurants by 8pm, the government said in a statement.
Bars are also allowed to take in only 50 per cent of maximum customer capacity and restaurants 75 per cent, it added.
The government also decided that university and other adult students would shift to remote schooling after the Christmas holidays and foreign travellers coming to Finland would need a proof of vaccination or recovery from Covid-19 and a recent negative test result.
Finland has so far allowed restaurants and events to sidestep Covid-19 restrictions based on certification showing proof of vaccination, recovery from Covid-19 or a recent negative test.
The government has also proposed that Covid-19 certification would be required from healthcare professionals working with people at risk of severe illness due to weakened immunity, and that home test kits would be exempted from value-added tax to make them more affordable.
While Finland remains among the countries least affected by the pandemic, its infection rate has been on the rise in recent weeks.
Last week, the Nordic nation of 5.5 million people recorded approximately 13,400 new cases compared with a week earlier when the figure stood at 10,600, according to statistics by the Finnish Health Institute.
About 83.3 per cent of its people aged 12 and over have now received two vaccine doses.
