Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has apologised to the public after a photo surfaced of her in a nightclub following her foreign minister testing positive for Covid-19.
The Finnish Health Institute recommends avoiding social contact while waiting for Covid test results.
Ms Marin was exposed last Friday at a ministerial meeting attended by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday.
"I did wrong. I should have considered the situation more carefully," Ms Marin said in a television interview by public broadcaster Yle last night.
The Finland Prime Minister had decided not to leave a restaurant on Saturday after being informed she had attended a meeting with a colleague who had just tested positive for coronavirus.
In a post on Facebook earlier this week, Ms Marin said she was at the restaurant when she received a phone call from her state secretary informing her about the exposure.
"He said ministers would not be quarantined because they all have been vaccinated twice," she said, explaining why she decided to continue socialising and dancing later at a crowded nightclub.
Finnish Economic Affairs Minister Mika Lintila, who was also exposed to Covid at the meeting, attended a floorball match - an indoor form of hockey - between Finland and Latvia on Sunday.
The prime minister's office later said it had sent her and Mr Lintila two text messages on Saturday recommending that they avoid contact with other people.
Ms Sarin said she had left her official phone at home and instead had relied on her assistants reaching her on her personal phone.
She has since taken two Covid-19 tests that have been negative.
