On Wednesday, the Finnish government announced new restrictions on travel from several countries. Upgraded controls at the country's border come into effect next Monday, 24 August.

Border checks will be reintroduced for travellers from Iceland, Greece, Malta, Germany, Norway and Denmark which are all part of the Schengen area. Travellers from Cyprus, Ireland, San Marino and Japan will also be subject to the new rules.

The tabloid Iltalehti looks at what this means in practice.

It quotes Tomi Kivenjuuri, a border security expert at the Border Guard Headquarters, as saying that internal border control include officials asking any person arriving in Finland from certain countries to present travel documents before being allowed to enter.

This means that rather than the normal unsupervised entry from Schengen countries, arrivals from those countries on the latest restrictions list will go through the same kind of entry process as for non-Schengen travellers.

When the internal border control returns, travel documents must be presented in the same way as in the case of external border traffic.

Kivenjuuri stressed that Finnish citizens have the right to leave the country and return, but that their identity and citizenship will be verified at the border.

Valid reasons for entry by non-citizens from countries on the restricted list include family business, personal relationships, or occasions such as weddings, funerals or illnesses. A non-citizen who is the spouse, child or other close relative of a Finnish citizen can enter.

Other criteria include business travel or studies. Entry may also be for a personal reason, assessed on a case-by-case basis.

In practice, writes Iltalehti, vacations and travel to meet friends are not a valid reasons to justify entering the country.

No to disinfectant showers

The Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet reports that following a backlash from parents, a secondary school in Helsinki's Kuulosaari district has removed an automatic disinfectant “shower” in introduced into use on Monday.

The paper describes the device as being similar to a metal detector at airports, but instead of scanning for metal objects, it sprays a shower of alcohol-based disinfectant on the person passing through the gate.

On Monday and Tuesday, pupils at the Kuulosaari Secondary School went through a disinfection shower on their way to the dining hall.

A number of parents were not happy with the arrangement. Emails and Facebook comments flooded in when the capital's two main tabloid newspapers reported on the arrangements Tuesday.

In a telephone interview with Hufvudstadsbladet school principal Lauri Halla described it as a “test” and said that a decision has been made to remove the device.

The shower gate was donated to the school by the Landeli Group whose CEO, Sergei Medvedev has children who attend the school.

He told the paper that the disinfection shower was by no means intended to replace other safe practices.

“This is nothing unique. During the corona pandemic, similar machines have been launched in Turkey, China, Serbia and Italy,” he told Hufvudstadsbladet.

The paper points out that in June, the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency Tukes said that these disinfection showers are not completely risk-free and may cause irritation to airways, skin and eyes.

Olli Vapalahti, Professor of Virology at the University of Helsinki, told the paper that the devices disinfect the hair, clothes and bags that one may be carrying, be he sees little use in that. Instead, he stressed that hands need to be disinfected.

“The disadvantages outweigh the advantages,” said Vapalahti.

Young asylum seekers

Several papers, including Tampere's Aamulehti, reports that around 40 under-age asylum seekers will be arriving in Finland over the next few weeks from camps in Greece and Cyprus.

The paper writes that total of 175 asylum seekers from facilities in Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Italy will be transferred to Finland. In addition to unaccompanied minors, this will also include single-parent families.

In February, the government decided to receive take in 175 especially vulnerable asylum seekers currently in Mediterranean countries. A total of 111 of them are coming to Finland from Greece, 30 from Cyprus and 28 from Malta.

To date, 50 minors have arrived from Greece and 16 members of single-parent families from Cyprus. Most of the minors are reported to be 13 to 16 years of age.

A final group of unaccompanied minors are tentatively scheduled to arrive from Greece in late September. No further details are being released in order to protect the privacy of the arrivals.

A haircut and a brew

The local Helsinki paper Helsingin Uutiset carries a feature about a couple living in the Jätkäsaari district, Marianna and Aku Ojala, who have “combined their dreams” into a venture well adapted to an age of health restrictions on many businesses.

Marianna had long wanted to open her own relaxed barber shop. He husband nurtured the idea of opening a a small beer room.

Their new company is one of few barbers in Finland to have received a liquor license. There are at least two such establishments in the country, one in Porvoo and the other in Oulu.

“Fortunately, we were not the first in Finland to combine an alcohol licence with a barber shop. It is always harder to get permits first. Still it took a lot of paperwork and phone calls,” says Marianna.

The couple opened their beer bar in February, just before the start of coronavirus epidemic. The summer months have been busy with Marianna cutting hair and Aku serving products from microbrewers, including their own brand.

Their shop provides men's barber services, but girlfriends and spouses are also welcome at the bar.