Fewer patients are being admitted to hospital with coronavirus
Coronavirus outbreaks in Tartu and Ida-Viru counties are receding, the Health Board said on Tuesday. As the virus has spread among young people in recent outbreaks hospital admissions are fewer than earlier in the year.
In Tartu, three outbreaks connect to Vabank nightclub, Shooters bar and one family are active. The outbreak at Naiiv has ended as 28 days have passed since the last infected person was diagnosed, Tiia Luht, the head of the South Estonia region of the Health Board (Terviseamet), told ERR.
ERR News reported earlier on Tuesday that sewage samples tested by the University of Tartu also show the outbreak in the county is over.
Speaking about the outbreaks in Ida-Viru County, Marje Muusikus, the head of the Ida-Viru region of the Health Board, said: "I would very much like to hope that it is declining."
There are several outbreaks in the country centered around Jõhvri Kelder bar and two Eesti Eneergia mines.
Close contacts of patients related to workers at Eesti Energia's mines, who are currently in isolation at home, are being monitored. If the outbreak does not continue through them, the trend will decrease.
While the circle of close contacts is wide, the days when 13 infected people were added to the county are now behind us. if symptoms appear they will do so in the next week.
Muusikus said. "There is a very large circle of close contacts behind each patient, because in summer people also communicate more with each other. It includes co-workers, family members, etc."
However, an outbreak imported from Great Britain is growing every day, the center of which is in Jõhvi, but which also covers the Lüganuse region and has already expanded to neighboring Lääne-Viru County.
Elderly patients are mainly being treated in hospital
These recent outbreaks have been spread by younger people who are less likely to be affected by the virus and so hospital admissions have been fewer than previous outbreaks.
In Tartu, the average age of an infected person is well below 30. "Therefore, the symptoms were also milder," Luht said. These young people also have less contact with the elderly. As of Tuesday, nine people in Estonia are being treated in hospital.
Ida-Viru Central Hospital is currently treating six patients with coronavirus, in addition to two seamen whose health has not yet allowed them to be treated at home and whose coronavirus tests continues to give a positive result, although they are no longer considered active patients in medical terms.
Muusikus said currently it is mostly miners who are being treated in hospital. "They have a lot of co-morbidities, they have problems with their lungs," she said.
In Ida-Viru County, there are 26 infected people between the ages of 31 and 40 and 25 infected people between the ages of 41 and 50. The average age of those infected is 39 years.
"The youngest is three months old, the oldest is 76 years old. The three months old is already better, they were in the hospital for a while," said Muusikus.
In general, however, the majority of hospitalizations are for the elderly, who have been close family members of the primary patients. They are in their 60s and 70s, although there are younger men among the miners.
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Editor: Helen Wright