Health Board: More than 3,500 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed last week
As of the morning of Monday, October 3, a total of 210 people in Estonia were hospitalized with COVID-19. In all, 3,561 new cases of COVID were diagnosed across the country last week, and another just over 1,400 new lab-confirmed cases can be expected this week, the Health Board said in its weekly forecast.
A total of 3,561 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed last week, including 1,316 lab-confirmed and 2,245 clinically diagnosed cases, said Juta Varjas, chief specialist at the Health Board's Department of Infectious Diseases.
"Compared with last week, the number of [COVID] cases remained rather stable, increasing by 5.7 percent," Varjas said. "The number of positive tests has continued to grow among older age groups specifically."
The chief specialist noted that the reproduction number, R, is currently 1.04 nationwide, and according to the weekly forecast, Estonia can expect to see another just over 1,400 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID this week.
According to the risk matrix based on the number of hospitalizations, the risk of the spread of COVID-19 in Estonia is currently at the yellow or medium level.
As of Monday morning, 210 people in Estonia were hospitalized with COVID, 9 of whom were in intensive care. 201 new cases for people with COVID were opened at hospitals last week, 74 of whom were hospitalized specifically for symptomatic COVID. Compared with the previous week, the number of hospitalizations increased by 25.6 percent.
According to the 7-day rolling average, the number of people newly hospitalized due to symptomatic COVID increased from 8.4 to 10.
A total of 11 people died due to COVID last week, ranging in age from 68-94, and all of whom had serious comorbidities.
This week, the number of hospitalizations is expected to exceed 220.
Overall vaccination rate 63.6 percent
Between Monday, September 26 and Sunday, October 2, a total of 6,694 doses of COVID vaccines were administered across Estonia, including 196 initial doses.
In all, 481,175 people have received additional or booster doses, putting Estonia's overall vaccination rate with two or more doses at 63.6 percent.
The results of wastewater monitoring last week indicate that the spread of the COVID-19 virus in wastewater is at the orange or high risk level in 52 percent of the country, with 39 percent of sites sampled registering at the red or very high risk level. On week, the proportion of samples registering at the red or very high risk level has increased somewhat.
The highest levels of COVID-19 virus particles were detected in wastewater in Ahtme and Sillamäe; the lowest levels, meanwhile, were detected in Põlva and Kuressaare.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla
