Finland's prime minister has apologised for going clubbing until 4am at the weekend after it was revealed she had received a text telling her to isolate.
Sanna Marin, 36, apologised on Monday after a gossip magazine published photos of her attending a Helsinki nightclub on Saturday night until almost four in the morning, hours after her Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto tested positive for coronavirus.
'My husband and I... had been out to eat, been shopping in town, seen friends and also spent time [enjoying] the evening and nightlife,' the Social Democrat leader wrote on Facebook.
'I should have used better judgement and double-checked the guidance given to me. I am very sorry for not understanding that I needed to do that,' Marin wrote.
She added that she was told by an official that the coronavirus guidelines did not require her to isolate, despite having been in contact with an infected person.
But she later admitted she had missed a text telling her to isolate on a phone she had left at home.
The prime minister said she sought a test immediately on Sunday morning upon seeing the text which came back negative, but she has since incurred criticism for her lapse in judgement.
'I should have used better judgement and double-checked the guidance given to me. I am very sorry for not understanding that I needed to do that,' Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin wrote on Facebook (Marin pictured with media outside the Finnish Parliament building in Helsinki earlier today)
Marin, 36, was seen enjoying a night out at the Butchers nightclub in Helsinki with friends on Saturday, but it was later revealed that she had 'missed' a text telling her to isolate after her foreign minister tested positive for Covid
Marin was seen enjoying a night out at the Butchers nightclub in Finland's capital city with friends on Saturday, after having dined out at Grotesk restaurant, according to local newspaper Seiska.
The prime minister was seen dancing at the club until 4am, but it was later revealed that she had been in contact with the Covid-positive foreign minister hours earlier.
A poll commissioned by TV channel MTV3 found that two-thirds of respondents thought Marin's night out was a 'serious mistake'.
Opposition parties also slammed Marin for potentially breaking official Covid guidelines and for missing the text message warning her to isolate.
Finance Minister Annika Saarikko from the Centre Party, the ruling coalition partner, stopped short of criticising Marin directly, but said she was 'glad I was at home' when she received the text telling her to isolate.
