All airlines might soon require a negative Covid-19 test certificate from passengers going to Finland

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by Mauricio Ruiz

Mauricio Ruiz is a writer and journalist who has lived in the US, Belgium, Mexico and Norway. His work has appeared in Words Without Borders, Catapult, The Common, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, JMWW, River Teeth, Literal Magazine, among others. He’s been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and Myriad Editions Competition in the UK, as well as the Fish Short Story Prize in Ireland. He has received fellowships from OMI writers (NY), Société des auteurs (Belgium), Jakob Sande (Norway), Can Serrat (Spain), and the Three Seas’ Council (Rhodes). His second book, Silencios al sur, was published in early 2017, and his work has partially been translated into Dutch and French. Mauricio Ruiz can be followed on Twitter and Instagram.

25 January 2021 - 19:10

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On the 22^nd of January, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, THL, gave a recommendation for all airlines operating to Finland by which it recommends that airlines require passengers to present a negative coronavirus test certificate before boarding.

According to THL, passengers with a medical certificate showing that they have had the coronavirus disease less than six months ago and have since recovered are not required to present a negative test result. At this stage, vaccination certificates will not be accepted as a substitute for test certificates, says THL.

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Furthermore, THL estimates that it is no longer necessary to suspend passenger flights from the UK, South Africa and Ireland. Passenger flights from these countries are suspended until Monday 25 January by the decision of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. In its recent opinion to Traficom, THL stated that suspension of passenger flights is no longer necessary because airports now have sufficient resources to contain the virus variants.

“Suspension of passenger flights is not a restriction measure but an emergency measure that was introduced to give airports time to prepare for the prevention of the virus variants. According to the current estimate, the measures are now sufficient and passengers from these countries can be directed to a test or quarantine”, said Mika Salminen, Director of THL. “We must emphasize that it is important to introduce new preventive measures that THL has recommended to airlines.”

Passengers arriving via different routes from the UK, Ireland or South Africa are guided to a health examination referred to in the Communicable Diseases Act and, based on the health examination, to a 14-day quarantine.

So far, 86 cases caused by the new variants have been discovered in Finland. The majority of the cases have been detected on passengers who traveled from the UK or South Africa to Finland.

Finnair has announced that it will start requiring a negative coronavirus test certificate as of the 28^th of January 2021.

All airlines might soon require a negative Covid-19 test certificate from passengers going to Finland

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