Finnish PM apologises for nightclubbing despite COVID exposure

FINLAND: Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin came under sustained criticism on Tuesday after it was revealed she stayed out dancing until the early hours on the weekend despite knowing she had been exposed to COVID-19.

Sanna Marin, 36, apologised on Monday after a gossip magazine published photos of her attending a Helsinki nightclub on Saturday night until almost four in the morning, hours after her Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto tested positive for coronavirus.

“My husband and I… had been out to eat, been shopping in town, seen friends and also spent time [enjoying] the evening and nightlife,” the Social Democrat leader wrote on Facebook.

She added that she was told by an official that the coronavirus guidelines did not require her to isolate, despite having been in contact with an infected person.

“I should have used better judgement and double-checked the guidance given to me. I am very sorry for not understanding that I needed to do that,” Marin wrote.

A poll commissioned by TV channel MTV3 found that two-thirds of respondents thought Marin’s night out was a “serious mistake”.

Opposition parties also slammed Marin for potentially breaking official COVID guidelines and for missing a later text message warning her to isolate.

Finland has sustained some of Europe’s lowest incidences of the virus throughout the pandemic, recording more than 196,000 cases and 1,384 deaths in the country of 5.5 million.

– FRANCE 24