Following talks with government partners on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) said she expected that more of Finland's Covid-related restrictions would start to be lifted on February 14th.
Speaking on her departure from the talks, Marin confirmed that the changes mean that bars and pubs would have the same restrictions on opening hours as eateries. Starting in the middle of February, all establishments will be allowed to stay open until midnight, with last call for alcohol sales an hour earlier.
The prime minister also said all of the epidemic restrictions on bars and restaurants would be lifted at the beginning of March.
Following the recommendations of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Ministry of Justice, Finland will no longer use Covid passes, at least for the time being. Event organisers and certain establishments were allowed to ignore Covid restrictions if they demanded customers present their Covid passes.
While the passes could be reintroduced in the future in case of changing circumstances such as new variants, it would require some amendments to the law.
"We believe that we do not currently have the legal prerequisites in place to introduce a Covid pass. The THL feels that there is no longer an epidemiological basis for it; that is, we cannot use the pass to bypass restrictions at this point. It would mean restricting the fundamental rights of a citizen. We cannot do that if it's not absolutely necessary," Marin stated.
The government is also recommending that regional state administrative agencies (avi) lift current restrictions on public gatherings such as sports and cultural events from February 14th.
Marin said her main message this afternoon was to urge people to take the Covid-9 vaccine. A ministerial coronavirus working group is to continue hammering out details about dismantling the restrictions.
