The temporary amendment to the Health Insurance Act applies until 31 December 2022. The aim of the amendment is to encourage infected persons to refrain from going to work if going to the workplace poses a risk of infection to others.
The infection must be proven in a laboratory
Receiving infectious disease allowance requires a coronavirus infection confirmed by a laboratory-proven PCR test or antigen test. A home test is not sufficient to receive infectious disease allowance.
To prevent the spread of infections, you should stay at home until 5 days have elapsed since the onset of symptoms and the symptoms are clearly diminishing, that is, no more fever, bad cough or shortness of breath, for 2 days. Generally, a period of 5-10 days is sufficient for absence. Contact your healthcare provider if symptoms persist or worsen.
Infectious disease allowance may also be paid to the guardian of a child under 16 years of age if the child has been reliably diagnosed with a coronavirus infection and it is not recommended for the child to go to day care or school due to the risk of spreading the infection and the guardian cannot work because of the situation.
Certificate for infectious disease allowance
- An assessment of the need for infectious disease allowance is primarily made in the place where the assessment of care needs is made before the COVID-19-test. As a rule, a certificate for infectious disease allowance is issued in the unit that has made the referral for a coronavirus test, for example, in occupational health care, public health care or a private medical clinic. The certificate can be written by a physician, nurse or public health nurse.
- Those who have made a corona symptom assessment at Omaolo and taken a corona test should call to Coronavirus helpline, tel. 02 266 2714 (Mon-Fri 8:00-15:00) if the certificate infectious disease allowance is needed and it has not been obtained from occupational health care.
- For more information, contact Turku's coronavirus helpline tel. +358 2 266 2714 (Mon–Fri 8–15).
There is a backlog in the writing of the certificates, so we ask for your patience. The application period for infectious disease allowance has been extended from 2 months to 6 months. For further information on infectious disease allowance, see the Kela website.