Two-thirds of people hospitalized diagnosed in hospital
Two-thirds of all people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 were only diagnosed in the hospital. Most people who have been taken to hospital are over 60 years of age.
People who need to be treated for COVID-19 in hospital are mostly elderly. Statistics suggests around 70 percent of people hospitalized with the virus are over 60 years old. A tenth of patients need artificial ventilation, meaning they are already in serious or critical condition.
A fifth of all patients diagnosed have required hospital care in Estonia, while two-thirds of them were only diagnosed in the hospital and unaware of having caught COVID-19 before that.
Professor of virology Irja Lutsar said that Estonia has failed in one thing. The virus was brought to Estonia and spread by younger people and the country has not managed to avoid the virus spreading from young people to the elderly. The virus more often proves fatal for elderly people.
"We wanted to flatten the infection curve. While there are some fluctuations because ours is a small country, we have largely achieved that goal," Lutsar said.
A tenth of all confirmed cases have been healthcare workers, while most healthcare institutions have managed to avoid staff taking ill. Random sample testing in three Tallinn hospitals produced no positives.
Hospitals in other regions will also be subjected to random sample testing in the future.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
