Coronavirus instructions in different languages

Latest update: 4 May about returning to the schools and daycares.

We have compiled brief coronavirus instructions and information about the effects on the city’s operations in different languages.

Brief coronavirus instructions and information

More information for Espoo residents: www.espoo.fi/coronavirus
Yle News offer updating information in Arabic, Kurdish, Somali and Persian.

Information from Ministry of the Interior of Finland

Helpline for foreign language speakers during the coronavirus

There is a new helpline in Espoo to guide foreign language speakers with questions about the COVID-19 pandemic. The helpline serves in 16 languages.  

You can call the helpline with general questions about COVID-19 and to find out how to apply for different sources of support. The helpline will also give guidance on the restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.   

The service hours of the helpline are Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm.   

In number 09 816 22620 you can get service in Arabic, Russian, Somali, Dari, Farsi/Persian, Estonian, Turkish, Albanian, French, Kurdish, Vietnamese, Visayan, Tagalog and Mandarin Chinese. 

In number 09 816 22610 you can get service in English and in Easy Finnish.  
The helpline is operated as a joint service by employees and volunteers of the following organisations:   
  • Customer service personnel of different units of the City of Espoo  
  • Nicehearts ry
  • Trapesa
  • Kylämaja
  • Esma ry
  • Suomi Syyria Ystävyysseura
  • MPNY ry
  • Nuorten polku ry
  • Irakin naisten yhdistys

Smartbot to give multilingual coronavirus advice in Espoo

The smartbot is able to answer questions in more than a hundred languages. Its language skills are based on machine translation from English. While it will undoubtedly make some grammatical errors, the goal is to ensure that the key content of its messages is still understandable.

The smartbot can immediately answer for example the following questions:

  • What should I do if I suspect I have contracted the coronavirus?
  • How are travel and meetings with people restricted at the moment?
  • Where can senior citizens and families with children get help in their daily lives under these exceptional circumstances?
  • Where can employees who have been laid off or dismissed and businesses in financial difficulties get help?
  • What are the different ways to use City of Espoo services during the exceptional circumstances?

The smartbot began its work on the Finnish and English Espoo.fi website on 17 April 2020. It will be added to the Swedish website a bit later, too. It is available on the page www.espoo.fi/coronavirus and the page that contains coronavirus instructions in different languages. It also works at www.helloespoo.fi. The City of Espoo has acquired the bot for a trial period of two months.

Restaurants to close everywhere in Finland until end of May

Other information in several languages about the coronavirus situation

The City of Espoo has opened the application process for operating support for sole entrepreneurs

Foreign language directions for operating support for sole entrepreneurs are gathered in one page.