Finland’s prime minister apologizes for not self-isolating

Helsinki, Finland (Reuters) – Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin apologized to the public on Wednesday after a picture of her appeared in a nightclub after the foreign minister tested positive for COVID-19.

“I was wrong,” Marine said in an interview with public broadcaster Yle Wednesday night.

Marin said she decided not to cut short her night on Saturday after she was told she had been exposed to the coronavirus the day before, as she wrote on Facebook on Monday after a Finnish gossip magazine published a photo of her in a crowded nightclub.

The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reported on Wednesday that Economic Affairs Minister Mika Lentela attended a soccer match between Finland and Latvia on Sunday despite being advised to avoid contact with others.

Defense Minister Antti Kakkonen went to a dinner on Saturday, while Finance Minister Annika Saariko and Science and Culture Minister Antti Corvinen canceled their attendance at the same event to avoid contacts, the evening newspaper Ilta Sanomat reported on Tuesday.

The three ministers were revealed on Friday at a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.

What did the Prime Minister of Finland say?

Marine said he was in a restaurant when he received a phone call from his secretary of state informing him of the exposure.

“He said that ministers will not be quarantined because they have all been vaccinated twice,” Marin wrote on Facebook explaining why he continued to socialize.

The Prime Minister’s Office later said it sent two text messages to exposed ministers on Saturday recommending that they avoid contact with other people.

Marin said she left her official phone at home and instead relied on assistants to communicate with her on her personal phone.

Since then, Marin has had two covid-19 tests that came back negative. Lintila and Kaikkonen also tested negative.