11 people have died in Estonia due to the COVID-19 virus

Between yesterday, 1 April, and this morning, six people have died in Estonian hospitals due to the COVID-19 virus: a 73 year old woman, an 87 year old woman and a 77 year old man at the Kuressaare Hospital; a 55 year old man and a 92 year old woman at the Tartu University Hospital; and an 86 year old woman at the North Estonia Medical Centre. In total, 11 people have died in Estonia due to the virus.

Between 7 am on 31 March and 7 am on 1 April, 1372 coronavirus tests were analysed in Estonia, of which 79 tests (6%) showed positive results. Based on data from the population register, over the 24 hour period, the highest number of coronavirus cases were found in Saare County (30), followed by Harju County (25), Pärnu County (6), Ida-Viru County (5), and Viljandi County (5).

In total, 15 725 tests have been analysed in Estonia, of which 858 (5%) have shown positive results.

The share of infected persons is greatest among those aged 50-54 (11%), 45-49 (10%), and 55-59 (10%).

In Estonia, the institutions that have testing capacity include the laboratories of the Health Board, Tartu University Hospital, Synlab, North Estonia Medical Centre, Ida-Viru Central Hospital, Pärnu Hosital, and the East Tallinn Central Hospital.

Today, on 2 April, 85 patients require hospitalisation in Estonia due to the novel coronavirus, of whom 16 are on ventilation. 45 patients have recovered from the disease and 11 people have died, of whom 10 died in hospitals and one in a care home.

Due to the emergency situation in Estonia, the prohibition to visit applies to all social welfare institutions, hospitals and prisons until the preliminary date of 1 May 2020, unless otherwise decided by the government. To contain the further spread of the COVID-19 infection, the Health Board ordered the cessation of all regular, planned health care outside of the national network of hospitals. Private medical establishments and dental clinics will only provide emergency care. Regular treatments are stopped to contain the spread of the virus and in the interest of using personal protective equipment more economically. Regular treatments that have already been started will be reassessed by the doctor and patient, on a case-by-case basis. All regular treatments, whose cessation would endanger a patient’s health, will definitely have to be carried out to their completion.

Additional information is available on the Health Board’s dedicated website and on the Health Board Facebook page. Questions about the emergency situation are answered on the government website.

Katrin Reinhold, head of the Health and Welfare Information Systems Centre TEHIK, which is responsible for data collection, comments on data correction:

Yesterday, 62 positive first time test results were added, however, in the course of data correction, 28 repeat cases were removed, which is why in total the number of persons tested positive increased by 34 persons. Indeed, the information did not match up with the numbers reported across regions. The aggregated numbers for yesterday were as follows: first time tests performed amounted to 14 353, of which 779 were positive and 13 574 were negative.

The published open source data graphs start with March, and not with the first case, which was detected already in February. The data collected by the Health Board laboratory were uploaded to the health information system later (21.03). In addition, if a person had a first test in February and then a repeat test in March, then the March test for that person counted as a first time test, and is therefore reflected in the graph later, not in February.

When looking at days, the numeric difference is due to the fact that the data to be published is updated every morning at 7 am and it reflects the previous day. Therefore, the updated data seemingly falls on two dates. At the moment, new graphs reflect the time analyses are taken, however, we are also planning on supplementing the service with data that reflects when the results were transferred to the health information system, which will help us better understand the differences between the old and new data collection methods. 

We apologise for the confusion that has been created. We would like to emphasise that we are still working on the open source data, and we will publish the solution, which takes into account the time that the results are transferred and where the problem of repeat tests has been resolved. It is important to also understand that all test results are available in the health information system. For additional information on data collection, please contact: [email protected]