The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is recommending the use of Covid home tests. The agency plans to provide further guidance about using the kits in the near future.

The director of the THL's Department for Health Security, Mika Salminen, spoke about the matter at a coronavirus briefing on Thursday.

"Home tests are said to be improved. Their degree of reliability is not exactly the same as laboratory tests, but their advantage is that results are immediate and there is no need to wait until the next day," Salminen explained, urging the use of the home kits if, for example, a family member has a runny nose.

"If the result is positive, a lab test should be performed to confirm it," he said, adding that if there are many symptoms, the ill person should not head out but stay home and cancel their plans.

Coronavirus testing has increased over the past weeks, according to the THL. Last week, around 147,000 Covid tests were carried out in labs across the country, while in the weeks between the end of October and beginning of November, roughly 85,000 of the tests were being carried out each week.

Of the samples taken last week, 6.4 percent were positive, compared to 6.3 percent in the previous two weeks. At the end of October the positive result proportion was 5.2 percent.

The number of new Covid cases has been rising in Finland for the past several weeks, with workloads in intensive care units doubling compared to the end of October.

According to the THL, 39 new Covid patients were admitted to intensive care units last week.