In Finland and state-run gaming operator Veikkaus Oy has announced the immediate closure of some of its slot arcades following the publication of new national guidelines designed to help stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The firm used an official Thursday press release to detail that the shutterings are due to run until at least the middle of next month and have impacted venues located in areas where the spread of the potentially-lethal ailment has recently been accelerating. The operator moreover stated that the temporary move follows yesterday’s plea from the Social Affairs and Health Ministry that companies ‘provide regions with the best prerequisites to fight the spread of the epidemic as a whole.’

Acute attention:

Veikkaus Oy revealed that it has now closed its slot arcades in and around the cities of Helsinki and Vaasa as well as those in eleven of the nation’s 19 regions including Satakunta, Paijat-Hame and North Ostrobothnia. Jari Heino serves as the entity’s Channels and Sales Senior Vice-President and he declared that his firm will be closely monitoring the situation and remains prepared to ‘act quickly if there are any changes in the regional coronavirus situation.’

Read a statement from Heino…

“We will be listening to the specialists in evaluating the situation based on their expert knowledge and will then make our decisions accordingly. No-one knows yet what the situation will look like in three weeks. We are sure that all efforts are being made to suppress the second wave of this disease.”

Rising risk:

Finland is home to approximately 5.5 million people and has so far recorded around 23,700 coronavirus cases for 393 deaths. The Scandinavian nation furthermore chalked up some 496 new cases of the highly-infectious ailment yesterday, which is about 85% above the first-wave highs seen in the early days of April.