Instructions for when you suspect a coronavirus infection

If you wish, you can do a home test for COVID-19. We recommend home tests for everyone who has respiratory symptoms such as fever, a head cold or a cough. The antigen home tests for COVID-19 do not necessarily recognize the Omicron variant as easily as earlier variants. This is why we recommend that a home test is done again after a few days if the respiratory symptoms persist.

Home tests are also suitable for testing children. A result from a home test is more reliable if the test is repeated several days in a row or with 2–3 day intervals.

More information on home tests can be found on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL.

THL’s website also contains advice on home testing for schoolchildren, students and staff of schools and educational institutions.

A negative result in a home test

It is important that you avoid contact with other people until your symptoms have lessened. If you have symptoms, you must avoid contacts even if the home test is negative. There are also other respiratory viruses in circulation and those who have symptoms should stay at home so that these do not spread. If you have symptoms for longer than three days, we recommend avoiding contact with other people until you have been symptom-free for at least two days.

A positive result in a home test

If a home test shows a positive result, it is usually not necessary to confirm the result with a test in the health care services.

One should take a positive result in a home test as seriously as a positive result in an official test irrespective of the symptoms.

If you live in the same household with a person who has tested positive for the coronavirus (a home test or a result verified in a laboratory)

• Persons who live in the same household are no longer ordered into quarantine in accordance with the Communicable Diseases Act.
• Stay at home until your symptoms have lessened significantly and you no longer have a fever.
• Hobbies and visits during the spare time are not recommended.
• If you have to move in public areas or use public transportation, you can use a mask if you wish.
• Work from home if possible. If needed, discuss this with your boss.

If you like, you can tell people you have been in close contact with about your infection. The illness is contagious two days before symptoms appear.

Adults

A positive test result can be confirmed in the health care services if:

• the symptoms are serious
• the person who is ill belongs to a risk group
• the person who is ill is pregnant
• the person who is ill works in social or health care

Contact Soite if your condition requires it.

Children under the age of 12

If a child under the age of 12 has mild symptoms of an infection, his/her condition can be observed at home without coronavirus testing. The symptoms are mild if the child is alert and has the energy to play and potter about even if s/he has a runny nose, a cough and fever.

The child should avoid contacts outside of the family until the symptoms have become significantly milder. If the symptoms start to become significantly milder while they are observed at home, a coronavirus test is not needed.

A child under the age of 12 must be tested for the coronavirus in Soite if s/he has symptoms that fit the coronavirus and her/his symptoms require an assessment by a doctor (and a coronavirus test according to the doctor).

Children and adolescents over the age of 12

A child over the age of 12 must be tested for the coronavirus in Soite if s/he has symptoms that fit the coronavirus and s/he belongs to a risk group of serious coronavirus disease.

Booking an appointment for a person under the age of 16:

• The paediatric emergency clinic (lasten päivystys): phone 06 826 4444. Open 24/7.

The child our adolescent may return to day care or school when s/he is clearly on the mend and the symptoms are diminishing. As with other infections caused by viruses, the contagiousness of the coronavirus diminishes quickly after the symptoms have started. The child may have a runny nose and a cough a long time after an infection in the airways.