856 coronavirus tests were analysed in the past 24 hours, 36 new positive cases added

From 29 to 30 March, 856 coronavirus tests were analysed in Estonia, and 36 tests (4%) came back positive.

According to the population register, over the 24 hour period, the highest number of coronavirus cases were found in Saare County (17), followed by Harju County (8), Ida-Viru County (5), Järva County (2), and Rapla County (3). One new positive case was found Tartu County and in Valga County.

In total, over 11252 coronavirus tests have been performed in Estonia, of which 715 (6%) have shown positive results. Results of the analyses show that the highest numbers of infected persons were found in the above 60 (23%), 40-49 (10,5%) age group and the 50-59 age group (10,5%).

As of last evening, 56 patients require hospitalisation in Estonia due to the novel coronavirus, of whom 10 are in intensive care and in critical condition. 20 patients have recovered from the disease and 2 people have died.

Over 600 000 people have now fallen ill due to the coronavirus, which started spreading from China. The largest number of infected persons are in the United States (nearly 105 000), China (over 86 000), and Italy (over 81 000).

Coronavirus risk groups include persons with chronic illnesses and elderly people. To protect the risk groups, the Health Board recommendations are as follows:

• It is strictly forbidden to visit care homes, because it endangers the health of the residents.
• Avoiding contact between people is of utmost importance, because otherwise it is not possible to contain the spread of the virus.
• Additionally, in the coming weeks, moving residents from one care home to another should be avoided, as well as taking in new residents. Elderly persons in need of care should turn to their local government to receive home care services.

The Health Board, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the National Social Insurance Board have developed guidelines on how to act if infection is suspected in case of a care home resident or employee. The guideline has been sent to all social welfare institutions. The Social Insurance Board is in constant contact with the care homes and ready to act on a case-by-case basis.

Over the past weeks, the Social Insurance Board in cooperation with the Health Board has actively been working on informing nursing homes and explaining how following hygiene requirements is of utmost importance in preventing infection. It is the responsibility of every service provider to guarantee that all recommendations and measures would be applied to the maximum extent.

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.

 On the collection of statistics

As of 26 March, the Health Board started publishing the results based on data from the health information system TIS. The automated system looks at a period starting from 7 am the previous day until 7 am the next day. For TIS documents that are read for the report, there are specific technical requirements. Since the system is new, not all TIS documents may conform to the technical requirements, so the automated statistical reports may not always be read correctly.

Tested persons, of course, still receive the results of their test and they can also see it in the patient portal. The issue this morning with statistics may have been due to the fact that five referrals from the lab were not technically filled out correctly. Then there is no way to categorise the results automatically without a doubt. That is why we also have to review the contents of those five documents. What is important, however, is that people receive their positive and negative results in a timely manner.

We ask everyone to be understanding during these transitional times.