As a rule, isolation decisions under the Communicable Diseases Act are no longer made. Isolation decisions are made only in situations where the spread of the epidemic cannot be prevented without coercive measures. The need to compensate for loss of income alone does not justify the issuing of an isolation order.  A coronavirus patient may be entitled to normal sick leave or, if the employer so permits, be absent from work provided they have notified their employer. Contact your health centre or occupational health care provider, if necessary.

Those placed in isolation on 20 January 2022 or before will still obtain an administrative decision, if necessary. A contact tracer will check the need for a decision over the phone. Due to the current coronavirus situation, you may have to wait for the call for several weeks.

If the infectious disease doctor has not placed you in quarantine under the Communicable Diseases Act, read instructions here.

If the infectious disease doctor has placed you in quarantine under the Communicable Diseases Act due to exposure to the coronavirus, you will have to restrict your daily activities. Espoo’s Infectious Disease Unit sends information on coronavirus exposures and instructions by text message from tel. +358 40 49199500. After this, you will have to stay in quarantine. You will receive an official quarantine decision by post later. If you have no symptoms, you can return to your normal life after 10 days have passed since your exposure or after you have shortened your quarantine after receiving a negative coronavirus test result according to the instructions below.

Stay at home, do not visit other people and do not invite anyone to your home. Your nurse or doctor will monitor your health as needed through phone calls during the quarantine.

Please note that breaking quarantine is punishable by law. Any person who commits a health protection violation may be sentenced to a fine or to imprisonment for a maximum of three months (Criminal Code of Finland, chapter 44, section 2).

We recommend that you get tested for the coronavirus during quarantine, even if you have no symptoms. The test will help us find asymptomatic or early-stage cases of coronavirus infection and may also affect the duration of the quarantine.

You can shorten your quarantine if you get tested at the earliest 6 days after exposure, the test result is negative and you have been completely asymptomatic. The exposure date is day number 0. In other words, if you have been exposed on Monday, you can get tested at the earliest on the following Sunday.

If you want to shorten your quarantine, book a test appointment online at koronabotti.hus.fi/en(external link, opens in a new window) or call Espoo’s coronavirus helpline. Wait until you get your test result. If your test result is negative, call Espoo’s coronavirus helpline to shorten your quarantine. If your test result is positive, you have a coronavirus infection and you will receive separate instructions.

If you develop symptoms that suggest you may have the coronavirus, please get tested as soon as possible, even if the result of your previous coronavirus test was negative.

During quarantine ordered by the infectious disease physician, you are not allowed to:

  • Go to work.
  • Go to school or other places of study.
  • Go to shops, shopping centres or other public places.
  • Go to a swimming pool or other sports facilities.
  • Go to other recreational facilities.
  • Go to theatres, cinemas, restaurants or bars.
  • Use public transport such as trains, buses or taxis.
  • Invite people to your home or visit other people.
  • Hire a cleaner or other people to work at your home.

At home

  • Sleep alone in a separate room.
  • Air the room every morning and evening for at least 15 minutes by opening the window.
  • If you live with people who have been infected, avoid unnecessary close contact with them.
  • Cover your mouth and nose properly with a disposable tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you do not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not into your hand. Place the tissue into a plastic bag immediately after use and close the bag and/or put it in a waste container. Wash your hands with water and soap and/or use hand sanitiser.
  • Wash your dishes as usual.
  • Wash your clothes and bed linen in the washing machine according to their normal instructions.
  • You can clean your home as usual, but you are not allowed to ask someone else to clean your home. We recommend that you use a HEPA filter in your vacuum cleaner.
  • Clean thoroughly refrigerator doors, remote controls and other surfaces that people touch often.
  • Clean any stains that contain body fluids (such as vomit and sputum) with a chlorinated disinfectant. The concentration of the solution should be 500 ppm. Read the dilution instructions on the label of the disinfectant bottle.

Outside your home

  • You may spend time on your balcony or outdoors near your home, but you are not allowed to be in direct contact with people who do not share a home with you.
  • If you have pets that need to be walked, you should preferably ask someone who is not in quarantine to do it, especially if you live in an urban area. You can also ask someone else to take care of your pets while you are in quarantine. Otherwise you can walk your pets as long as you avoid direct contact with other people.

Groceries

  • Ask someone else, who is not in quarantine, to bring you groceries.
  • You can also use an online service to have food delivered to your home. However, remember that you have to avoid contact with the delivery person during payment and delivery.

Additional information

  • Infectious disease allowance compensates for the loss of income if the infectious disease physician has placed you in quarantine or isolation. You may also receive infectious disease allowance if you cannot go to work because your child under the age of 16 has been placed in quarantine. Apply for infectious disease allowance through Kela. To submit an application, you need a written quarantine decision or a medical certificate A provided by the infectious disease physician. Infectious disease allowance is not paid to persons in self-quarantine. Read more about the infectious disease allowance and how to apply for it on the Kela website
  • If you need an ambulance during quarantine, tell the dispatcher that you are in quarantine when you call the emergency response centre.