FINENTRY service guides people travelling to Finland during the pandemic
Keywords:FINENTRY.fi will be deployed at the ports of Helsinki and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on 7th January 2021. The service provides people planning to travel to Finland with the latest instructions and guides them to coronavirus testing on a case-by-case basis.
FINENTRY is a service that lets incoming travellers review travel instructions before or during their trip, book an appointment for a coronavirus test in Finland, and receive instructions for arriving at their test as well as the test result by text message.
The service is continually updated to reflect the guidelines of the Finnish authorities and ensures access to the latest instructions in several different languages. The service is currently available in Finnish, Swedish and English, and more languages will be gradually added in the future. The service works on mobile phones and browsers, and using it is voluntary and free of charge.
“FINENTRY provides guidance on the appropriate measures and, if necessary, directs travellers to a coronavirus test based on their country of departure and a personalised survey”, says Asko Järvinen, chief physician at the Helsinki University Hospital HUS.
FINENTRY takes all types of travellers into account, including Finns returning to Finland from abroad and travellers entering Finland for the purpose of work, studies or other reasons. Deployment of the FINENTRY service does not affect the entry restrictions that are enforced at border crossing points by the border control authorities.
“The service speeds up processes at border crossing points and points of entry, and consequently conserves the resources of professionals who provide health counselling and guide people to coronavirus testing. The service will first be deployed on 7th January 2021 at the ports of Helsinki and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, but we hope to eventually deploy it at other points of entry as well”, says Teppo Heikkilä, chief administrative medical officer at HUS.
Further plans for FINENTRY.fi
The service has been designed in collaboration with health and safety authorities as well as transport operators. The Helsinki University Hospital HUS acts as the technical producer for the service.
The service will be first deployed in Uusimaa, but it has been designed with the goal of using it at other points of entry in Finland as well. Hospital districts, operators at points of entry and transport operators have been provided with orientation and communication materials.
FINENTRY has been developed under the direction of the Coordination Group for the Coronavirus Testing of Incoming Travellers, which includes representatives from the following operators: HUS, cities of Helsinki and Vantaa, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland, Customs, Traficom, Finnish Border Guard, Eksote, Kymsote.
More information
Restrictions on entering Finland