Twenty medical workers are now quarantining at home after having been diagnosed with COVID-19, whose return the hospital is eagerly awaiting, Kuressaare Hospital wrote on its Facebook page.

A hospital worker with symptoms cannot work while they are infected and the infected person is to stay home for two weeks and return if there have been no symptoms for the 48 hours.

As of Friday, Saaremaa's confirmed infection cases number 51.3 COVID-19 infected per 10,000 residents, the hospital said, highlighting as a comparison that the indicator was 34.6 in Lombardy, Italy, 11.5 in Hubei, China, and 3.3 in Tallinn and Harju County.

"This in itself characterizes the extremely high level of infection in Saaremaa," the hospital said.

In total, as of Friday, 170 cases have been diagnosed on Saaremaa. Across Estonia, 575 people have tested positive for the disease. One person has died after contracting COVID-19.

Six police officers diagnosed with COVID-19

A sixth case of the novel coronavirus was confirmed among the Estonian police force as an officer in the town of Rapla tested positive for the disease.

The officer of the Rapla police station of the West Prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) developed symptoms of the coronavirus on Wednesday while working remotely, spokespeople for the West Prefecture said. A test result delivered by Thursday morning proved positive and the police officer is undergoing treatment at home.

After the confirmation, 20 more workers at the Rapla police station who had had contact with the affected person or had concerns about their health condition were tested; however, none of the samples proved positive.

Head of the Rapla police station Janno Ruus said that all officers on desk duty are working remotely during the disinfection of the premises.

"Officers on field work are performing their regular duties and avoiding coming to the station. All workers at the station are monitoring their health and are aware that they need to go home immediately as soon as the symptoms appear. We are doing everything in our power to stop the spread of the virus," Ruus said.

To prevent further infection, the Rapla police station and service facilities were closed for disinfection on Thursday and will also remain closed on Friday.

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