Will the Euro lead to a peak in contamination in certain countries?
This is the fear that is now emerging in Finland where nearly 300 supporters have tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the Euro in Saint Petersburg, local health authorities announced on Monday.
The health authority in charge of the epidemic, THL, renewed its call for screening all Finns who returned to the country after the defeat against Belgium last Monday.
She recommends that supporters self-quarantine for at least 72 hours until a negative drug test returns.
The country's authorities had already expressed their concern Thursday after the detection of nearly a hundred cases among supporters returning from Russia.
Local authorities near the border between Finland and Russia then identified 86 cases during tests carried out at customs posts.
Almost 800 people returned to Finland without testing
Due to congestion and traffic jams caused Tuesday by the return of some 3,000 supporters, Finnish customs officers had to let in nearly 800 people without testing them, especially in buses, according to local media.
Russia is facing an increase in Covid-19 cases due to the more contagious Delta variant, a situation that particularly affects Saint Petersburg, host city of the Euro, where the incidence rate is currently twenty times higher than in Finland, according to THL.
Read alsoCovid-19: how to prevent the Delta variant from spoiling our summer?
On Monday, the mayor of Helsinki, Jan Vapaavuori, also announced that hopes of seeing other restrictions lifted would be suspended, in part due to the peak in infections linked to the Euro.
"There are so many infections (...) the situation is clearly different from what it was a week ago," said the councilor at a press conference.
On Monday, the Nordic country of 5.5 million people reported 95,168 Covid-19 infections, including 1,184 in the past week - and nearly a thousand deaths.
The possible quarterback of the Blues will take place in St. Petersburg
Despite the outbreak in St. Petersburg, the French should play well in the Russian city if they advance to the quarter-finals of Euro 2021 by beating Switzerland on Monday night.
A UEFA spokesperson explained that the Russian health situation "does not change anything for the teams", and that it was "not planned to change the venue of the match".
The former Russian imperial city has recorded 110 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to statistics released on Monday, surpassing the city's death record for the second time in three days.
For their part, the Russian authorities have been asserting since the start of the Euro that all health measures have been taken to ensure the health safety of spectators and teams.
