New covid restrictions if more than 300 cases found in two-week period
New restrictions will be imposed if 300 new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections are diagnosed within a two week period, the acting director general of the Health Board said on Wednesday.
The total number of infected people in Estonia should be more than 25 infected per 100,000 inhabitants, which is about 300 new cases in the country in a two week time frame. This would be approximately 21 new infections diagnosed every day for 14 days from several sources.
Over the last two weeks, fewer than 30 new infections have been diagnosed across the country. The last time 21 infections were diagnosed on a single day was at the start of June, more than a month ago.
Acting Director General of the Health Board Mari-Anne Härma said on Wednesday: "This must be the Estonian average. These numbers may be lower by county, but it depends on the situation and the reason why it is happening."
Locking down the whole country is to be avoided and the first new restrictions should be local if possible and only where the number of infected people is highest.
Härma could not specify how many infections there must be in order for the situation to be called a second wave. These include how fast the morbidity is and what is happening in neighboring countries and the rest of Europe.
"It is very difficult to draw a clear line here, but certainly these signs will come much earlier than we can start to say that the second wave has now begun," Härma added. "If there are danger signals, we know we're ready again."
Speaking on Vikerraadio's program "Uudis +" Härma said Estonia survived the midsummer break and that none of the eight new infections announced today were related to Jaanipäev parties.
She said she was not surprised at eight new infections being diagnosed, as this is still a small number. For most of the last month there have been under five new cases of COVID-19 recorded each day.
In recent weeks new cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in Estonia after people travel from Russia, Sweden and Germany, she said.
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Editor: Helen Wright