There have been significantly more coronavirus-related deaths this year than in previous years. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has registered 2,800 since the beginning of 2022.
According to THL figures, in 2021 the deaths of 1,163 people were attributed to the coronavirus. According to Statistics Finland's confirmed causes of death statistics, 558 people died as a result of Covid-19 infections in 2020.
In the last week of April, 104 deaths were attributed to the virus. During the previous week, 123 such deaths were registered. The exact number of deaths for May is not yet known, but according to THL's preliminary data it is thought to have fallen.
"We have just passed the peak in deaths and the number of both deaths and infections seems to be declining," said Sirkka Goebeler, an expert at the THL's forensic medicine unit.
Fewer Covid deaths than reported
Goebeler says it is now estimated that about one-fifth of the deaths registered as related to the coronavirus were due to another cause.
"It is now known that about 20 percent of the recorded coronavirus deaths were such that the attending physicians have determined that the actual cause of death is something other than the coronavirus," says Goebeler.
The over-recording is a result of the practice of collating infection figures with death reports at 30-day intervals.
Collection of the data on actual cause of death is a slow process in Finland, and official statistics are usually not available until a year later.
By international comparison, coronavirus death rates in Finland, at 81 people per 100,000 inhabitants, have been relatively low. In Sweden, the rate has been 183 per 100,000 deaths and in the United Kingdom, for example, 263 per 100,000.
"On the European level, for example, only Norway has had lower figures," Goebeler noted.
Preliminary statistics in Finland are now show a downward trend.
Elderly still at risk
While in general the risk of death is decreasing as the number of infections falls, the risk of serious illness and death is still high for people over 80 years of age.
Some 85 percent of Covid deaths are tied to serious long-term illnesses.
As Goebeler points out, while coronavirus infections are rarely fatal for young people, among the elderly or those with serious long-term illnesses, infections do not have to be very severe to lead to death.
Although the mortality rate for the population as a whole has not increased due to the coronavirus, there was a clear increase in mortality in older age groups in 2021, as compared to 2019.