On this website, the City of Espoo collects information about the coronavirus, its effects on the city’s operations and advice for Espoo residents. The website will be updated as the situation changes. Latest update: 8 August 2020 at 16:00.
Coronavirus situation in Espoo
Coronavirus situation in Espoo by greater area
Coronavirus Helpline and testing
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If you suspect you have any signs of the coronavirus, please call Espoo’s coronavirus helpline, tel. 09 816 34600 (Mon–Fri at 7:00–18:00).
- Outside these hours, please call the Medical Helpline, tel. 116 117.
- Read more: Health centres’ telephone service is very busy – we are doing everything we can to improve the situation
- The number of people wanting to get tested for the coronavirus has increased. You may have to wait for your testing appointment and the results up to a couple of days. In Espoo, testing is performed by HUSLAB.
- Take precautions while waiting for your testing appointment and the results: stay at home just in case and avoid meeting anyone, just like you would if you had a confirmed case of the coronavirus. Even if your test result is negative, you should still stay at home until you have been symptom-free for a day.
- Everyone with symptoms of the coronavirus (fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, shortness of breath, loss of smell/taste or diarrhea/abdominal pain without any other clear reason) can get tested. We will give you testing instructions on the phone.
- SMS service for the hearing impaired, tel. 040 639 3945
- You can also assess your symptoms at www.omaolo.fi and you will get instructions based on your symptoms.
Instructions for treatment at home:
The contact information of health service in other matters
Please notice that you can only visit a health centre if you have booked an appointment.
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Appointment booking to Espoo health centres in other matters than corona, tel. 09 816 34500, Mon–Fri 7:00–18:00
- Oma Lääkärisi Matinkylä, tel. 09 855 4100, Mon–Fri 7:00–18:00
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The Medical Helpline will help you in the evening and at weekends when health centres are closed. Tel. 116 117.
- Contact information of health centres in Espoo: espoo.fi/healthcentres
- Video appointments with an on-call nurse are available. Go to the appointment booking system: espoo.terveytesi.fi
Mental health services are there to help you if the coronavirus is making you feel worried or anxious:
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, tel. 09 816 31300, Mon–Fri 8:00–16:00
- Social and Crises Emergency Services is there to help outside these hours, tel. 09 816 42439
Support for everyday life
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Nestori – Guidance and Service Counselling for Senior Citizens offers advice and solutions to everyday situations. Tel. 09 816 33 333, Mon–Fri 9:00–15:00.
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Answers to frequently asked questions about the effects of the coronavirus on the elderly (in Finnish and Swedish)
- The best way to contact Welfare Services for Families with Children is to use the Get help form at www.espoo.fi/gethelp or call tel. 09 816 23600, Mon–Fri 8:30–15:00.
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Social services and food help, tel. 09 816 45000, Mon–Fri 8:00–10:00
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Disability Services Helpline, tel. 09 816 45285, Mon–Fri at 9–11.
Changes to social and health services
We are providing the services that are absolutely necessary – this is why we must reduce non-urgent services. We will contact every client whose appointment needs to be rescheduled. To protect the elderly and other risk groups we are limiting visits to nursing homes, for example. More information: Social and health services during the coronavirus pandemic
Early childhood education
Day care centres are open.
Open early childhood education
All open day care centres are closed. Clubs will restart their operations as of 13 August.
Residents’ parks (excluding Matinkylä) are open. You must not visit parks when ill.
Outdoors only – take your own outdoor toys with you
Only outdoor facilities are open. Remember to keep the necessary safety distances. This is why activities such as playing in the water or barbecuing are not possible this summer.
The indoor facilities of residents’ parks will remain closed. However, you may use the toilet facilities when needed, but in this case too the safety distance of 2m and good coughing and hand hygiene must be observed.
The toy storages in residents’ parks will remain closed for the time being. So please take your own outdoor toys with you.
Sports, exercise and culture
Videos and links encouraging to exercise have been compiled on page espoo.fi/omatoimiliikunta.
Cultural services focus on safety in autumn 2020. Read more in this news article.
Nature House Villa Elfvik is closed. All nature tours organised by the Environment Department have been cancelled until 31 May 2020.
All Youth Centres will reopen in August. Youth workers are arranging activities and reaching young people in digital environments. For example a digital youth centre was opened in Discord.
The Ohjaamotalo continues counselling in Discord. Service points (Starttipiste) are open again.
Schools
The new school year will start as contact teaching in Finnish-speaking comprehensive schools, Espoo International School and all upper secondary schools on 13 August and in Swedish-speaking schools on 18 August.
Hygiene is a priority – stay home if you are ill or have symptoms
Unnecessary close contact will be avoided in schools, and hygiene will be ensured in line with the recommendations by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
Stay home if you are ill or have symptoms. When a pupil, student or staff member returns to Finland from abroad, they must follow THL’s latest quarantine recommendations or guidelines.
Schools will inform guardians and students of teaching arrangements, schedules and other matters through the Wilma service.
Read more about School year to start as contact teaching in comprehensive schools and upper secondary schools
Customer service
The City of Espoo Service Points serve customers as usual.
Safe distances are ensured and hygiene instructions strictly followed at the Service Points. We have acquired protective counter screens and face shields for our face-to-face customer service personnel to improve their and our clients’ safety. Clients are encouraged to only make brief visits to the Service Points.
If you have symptoms of a common cold or any stomach symptoms, do not visit a Service Point. In such cases, you can also take care of many things over the phone or through our chat service. The general customer service number and the chat window are available at www.espoo.fi/asiointi.
How to run errands from home?
Services for entrepreneurs and companies
Entrepreneur, the business advisors in EnterpriseEspoo are there to help you. Book a meeting with a business advisor and we will be in touch.
Applications for the operating support for sole entrepreneurs is now open. Read more about the application process.
Information kit on services for entrepreneurs and companies during the coronavirus pandemic.
Good hand hygiene prevents respiratory infections from spreading
The best way to prevent respiratory infections is to take good care of hand and coughing hygiene. Further information about hand hygiene
Up-to-date general information about the coronavirus:
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare: www.thl.fi/koronavirus
- The national coronavirus hotline provides generic information about the coronavirus, tel. 0295 535 535, Mon–Fri 8:00–21:00 and Sat 9:00–15:00. Text message service for the deaf and hard of hearing, tel. 050 902 0163. General information on the coronavirus is also available from the Government’s chat service. The telephone and chat services do not give any health advice or guidance in the case of symptoms. In these cases, you should call your health centre or the Medical Helpline.
Smartbot to give multilingual coronavirus advice
The City of Espoo is testing a smartbot, or a learning artificial intelligence application, that answers questions in more than a hundred languages on the Espoo.fi website. 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. News article