Helsinki: Finland’s prime minister will work remotely until further notice, officials announced on Thursday, after the country’s new coronavirus app warned that she may have been exposed.
Sanna Marin, the 34-year-old head of government, “will be tested for Covid-19,” her office said in a statement.
“She is asymptomatic and feeling fine.”
Finland launched its coronavirus tracing app on September 1, allowing smartphone users to receive an alert when they have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.
The app has since been downloaded approximately 1.8 million times, equal to one-third of Finland’s 5.5 million population.
On Thursday, Marin was holding talks with other EU leaders, and had discussions with cabinet colleagues over relaxing Finland’s travel restrictions, which currently ban arrivals from all but a handful of EU countries.
Currently Finland only allows holidaymakers from countries with fewer than ten new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, under measures previously described by Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo as “the toughest in Europe”.
Thursday’s proposals would see the limit raised to 25 new cases per 100,000, which is more in line with the policies of other EU states.
The government has come under heavy pressure to ease travel restrictions in order to help businesses in Lapland, an area hugely reliant on tourism during the Christmas and winter season.
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