Health Board: Coronavirus cases to reach peak by end of next week
Estonian coronavirus cases continued their upward trend as 103 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the Health Board (Terviseamet) said on Friday. Deaths due to the coronavirus have risen to 12. The epidemic is expected to peak by the end of next week.
According to Merike Jürilo, Director General of the Health Board, the number of COVID-19 coronavirus cases has continued its upward trend with 5-7 percent of all samples being positive.
Between 7 a.m. April 2 and 7 a.m. April 3, a total of 2,514 tests were carried out across Estonia. Family doctors have made over 7,500 referrals.
As of Friday morning, 90 patients are being treated in hospital after contracting the disease, 16 people are on ventilators, and 48 people have been discharged from hospitals across the country.
If people abide by restrictions, this trend should continue through next week before reaching breaking point. "According to the data available, the cases should culminate sometime during the end of next week or beyond and the hospitals have to be ready for that," Jürilo said.
She added that scientists have used both local and international data and should be able to make a more accurate forecast in the coming days.
Twelve people have died from the COVID-19 virus, 10 of them in hospitals and two in nursing homes, the latter of which will now be subject to mass testing.
Kuressaare hospital announced on Friday that 67 of the hospital's employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, some of them have already recovered and returned to work.
In the past week, Estonia has increased its testing capacity to be able to carry out more than a 1,000 a day.
The epicentre of the outbreak is concentrated on the island of Saaremaa - which has a population of 33,000 - and has a total of 359 cases. In comparison, Harju County, which includes Tallinn and is the most populated area of Estonia at more than 582,500 people, has reported 303 cases.
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Editor: Anders Nõmm