Finnish health authorities recommended Thursday that people begin wearing masks in public places, after months of claiming there was insufficient evidence to justify their use, according to AFP.

Mika Salminen, director of health security at Finland's public health body THL, said “evidence of masks' effectiveness is not particularly strong” but “even small additions to our range of available options are justified.”

After only a trickle at the start of the summer, Finland is now experiencing an increase, with 219 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the last fortnight.

However, the Nordic country still has one of Europe's lowest incidences of the virus according to the WHO.

Earlier in the pandemic, Finnish health authorities rejected the idea of a mask policy, insisting that wearing the face coverings could in fact exacerbate the spread of the virus if they were handled improperly.