Mari-Anne Härma, head of the infectious disease monitoring and epidemic control department at the Estonian Health Board, told journalists on Thursday that altogether 26 people have died due to the novel coronavirus in Saare County, 21 of whom passed away in hospital and five in a social welfare institution.

Altogether nine people have died in Ida-Viru County, eight of whom passed away in hospital and one in a social welfare institution. The number of coronavirus victims in Harju County is eight, all of whom were hospitalized at the time. A total of five people have died in Pärnu County, three of whom passed away in hospital, one at home and one in a social welfare institution.

In Võru County, one person died due to coronavirus in hospital and one at home. Hiiu County and Tartu County both have one coronavirus victim and both died while hospitalized.

Of the people who have died due to the virus, 25 were men and 27 women. Ten people were older than 90, 21 were between 80 and 89 years old, 15 were between 70 and 79 years old, three were aged between 60 and 69 and three fell within the 50-59 age group.

Härma said of all COVID-19 positive cases, less than 3 percent have resulted in death, while the European average is 10.5 percent. The share of COVID-19 positives in all deaths in Estonia is below 1 percent.

The island of Saaremaa became the epicenter of Estonia's outbreak and has more cases per capita than anywhere else in Estonia. As of Thursday, 542 cases have been diagnosed in Saare County, which includes western islands Saaremaa and Muhu. The infection rate per 10,000 people is 163.71 compared to Harju County's 9.83. Harju County, which includes Tallinn and is the most populated region in Estonia, currently has 588 cases.

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