19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... The Estonian Traders Association has announced that all stores will begin demanding mask-wearing from customers from October 25. In addition, active sales and tastings will be suspended and malls will close common areas.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Implementing a curfew for the whole country does not solve the issue of hospitals being overburdened, but instead extends the crisis, former Health Board emergency medical department head Martin Kadai told ERR about Latvia's decision to implement strict restrictions against the coronavirus. He said the solution is increasing risk group vaccination rates.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Tartu University Hospital will close its operating theaters to help reorganize treatment for coronavirus patients, newspaper Tartu Postimees reported on Tuesday.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Mustamäe district elder and Center Party member Lauri Laats received the second-most votes in Estonia during the local government elections last week - 8,466 votes. Laats told ERR that the result is an advance from the voters for the upcoming period.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... The government has not yet discussed establishing an emergency situation but it must be considered if scheduled hospital treatments are suspended, as in Latvia, Center Party chairman Jüri Ratas said on Tuesday.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... The coronavirus restrictions implemented in Latvia will not have a major effect if they are not accompanied by rapid and broad vaccinations, said Irja Lutsar, head of the government's advisory scientific council.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... As of Tuesday morning, 412 coronavirus patients are being treated in hospital and 1,102 new cases were diagnosed during the last day, the Health Board said.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Minister of Education and Research Liina Kersna (Reform) is set to make a proposal to change coronavirus testing in schools at Tuesday's government sitting, aiming to extend testing to students under the age of 12 and to implement "lollipop" PCR-tests instead of rapid tests.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Latvia will be in "lockdown" for a month from Thursday as the government tries to bring the coronavirus situation under control and relieve pressure on the healthcare system, Latvia's public broadcaster LSM reported on Monday.

19.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Last week, there were 7,999 cases of coronavirus diagnosed across Estonia compared to 6,455 the week before. There were 29 deaths.

18.10.21 NEWS ... Hospital beds were occupied by many new coronavirus patients last week, and the situation is bleak, with a slowdown of vaccination not solving the issue either, ERR reports. At the same time, two-thirds of Estonian adults have completed their vaccination course and are now even awaiting a booster shot.

18.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... As of Monday morning, 408 coronavirus patients are being treated in hospitals across Estonia and 821 new cases were recorded in the last day, data from the Health Board shows. Of the coronavirus patients, 213 (68.9 percent) are unvaccinated and 96 (31.1 percent) are vaccinated.

17.10.21 NEWS ... As of Sunday morning, 288 people are in need of hospital treatment for symptomatic Covid. Hospitals have a total of 379 people who have been infected. Four people died in the last day.

16.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... On Saturday morning, 363 covid patients are being treated in hospital and 1,238 new cases were diagnosed during the last day, the Health Board said.

16.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... There are approximately 230,000 doses of coronavirus vaccinations in storage in Estonia waiting to be used, the Health Board said on Friday. Almost 8,000 doses were administered this week.

16.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Estonia's western Hiiu County has become the first to vaccinate 80 percent of residents against coronavirus with at least one dose.

16.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Six European countries will be on Estonia's green list from Monday, October 18.

15.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Coronavirus traces in wastewater across Estonia are continuing to rise, according to a recent study conducted on a weekly basis, with Ida-Viru County showing particularly high readings.

15.10.21 NEWS ... Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) told ERR in an interview that he does not support PM Kaja Kallas' tougher coronavirus restrictions. The minister shed light on differences of opinion between Center and Reform when it comes to solving the coronavirus crisis but did not say whether he will resign should hospitals become overwhelmed.

15.10.21 NEWS ... The Reform Party adds five proposals for containing the coronavirus and promoting vaccination to those of Center Party.

15.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... There is no quick fix to the apparent stalling of Estonia's vaccination program, neither in the form of stick, or of carrot, a former Health Board (Terviseamet) departmental director says. Even offering inducements to getting vaccinated requires clarification of the legal and ethical implications first, the expert added, while suggesting as one solution a more personalized and focused approach to vaccinating at-risk groups.

15.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... As of Friday morning, 349 coronavirus patients are being treated in hospitals. 217 (62.2 percent) of them are unvaccinated and 132 (37.8 percent) are vaccinated.

15.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... In the month of October, a total of 48,000 people were given an opportunity to get a third dose of the coronavirus, but interest for the booster doses has been inconsistent.

15.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Many serious cases of COVID-19 could be prevented if people just got vaccinated, chief of medicine at the North Estonia Medical Center (PERH) and scientific council member Peep Talving told ERR on Thursday evening.

14.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... An additional €12 million has been earmarked in the 2022 state budget bill, currently being processed at the Riigikogu. The money will be used to mitigate the effects of distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

14.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) is to crack down on entertainment businesses who intentionally fail to comply with current coronavirus restrictions, primarily the requirement to check customers' coronavirus vaccination certification, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) said on Thursday. The activities of bars, restaurants and the like who are potential repeat offenders will be scrutinized more carefully, including a monitoring of their social media posts.

14.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Family physician Eero Merilind said in an interview with ERR that doctors need far more money to hire additional staff to restart the vaccination process. The doctor prefers persuasion in getting people to get vaccinated as the use of restrictions is not sustainable.

14.10.21 NEWS ... The government needs to be clearer in its communication around coronavirus, vaccination and restrictions, members of opposition parties EKRE and the Social Democrats (SDE) said on Thursday.

14.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... The government announced on Thursday, October 14, that the spread of the coronavirus in Estonia has now reached the highest level of risk on the national COVID-19 risk matrix.

14.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... As of Thursday morning, 342 patients with coronavirus are being treated in the hospital - a jump from 272 yesterday. Data from the Health Board shows 1,060 new cases were confirmed.

13.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) said the government is considering additional vaccination motivators, especially when it comes to the elderly. He said many of Social Democratic MP Jevgeni Ossinovski's proposals have already been implemented.

13.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Both the total number and the infection rate per 100,000 people is highest among school children, especially those aged 10-14. The number of patients requiring hospitalization is growing, largely because of the increased number of elderly patients, the Health Board's weekly overview (link in Estonian) reads.

13.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) told Vikerraadio on Tuesday that the government is discussing the possibilities of recovering medical costs from unvaccinated people and moving them down scheduled treatment queues, but she distanced herself from the proposals on Wednesday and added that the government does not consider them realistic.

13.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... As of Wednesday morning, 272 patients are being treated in hospitals across Estonia and 1,228 new cases were recorded in the last day, data from the Health Board shows. Of the hospitalized patients, 213 (67.4 percent) are unvaccinated and 103 (32.6 percent) are vaccinated.

13.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) said on Tuesday that she supports implementing additional restrictions on unvaccinated people, such as moving unvaccinated people down the queue in case scheduled treatments are limited. Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) is not in favor of this idea, however.

12.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Health minister Tanel Kiik (Center) opposes creating an additional category of coronavirus certification for those who have recovered from the virus and who as a result have anti-bodies present in their system, but who had not ever had a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test confirming they had the virus.

12.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Tartu University Hospital, the largest health care provider in Estonia, is limiting planned treatments amid rising coronavirus numbers.

12.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Professor of virology and chief of the government's scientific council Irja Lutsar said the council supports significantly stricter restrictions for unvaccinated people. A proposal will also be made to the government to give people with antibodies a short-term certificate of COVID-19 recovery.

12.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... While doctors and politicians say the only way out of the coronavirus crisis is by vaccination, the rate has almost come to a standstill over recent weeks. Hospitals have started restricting scheduled treatment.

12.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... On Tuesday morning, 290 coronavirus patients were receiving treatment in hospital and 1,260 new cases were diagnosed during the last day, the Health Board (Terviseamet) said. There were two more deaths.

12.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... The government does not yet see the need for new wage support measures for Estonia's tourism industry, Minister of Enterprise Andres Sutt (Reform) said on Monday.

11.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... There will be between 1,500-1,700 new daily cases of coronavirus by the end of the month, the Health Board has forecast. But there will only be 450 patients in hospital.

11.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Last week, there were 6,455 cases of coronavirus diagnosed across Estonia compared to 4,965 the week before. There were 27 deaths.

11.10.21 NEWS ... Virologist Andres Merits told Vikerradio's morning program on Monday that the third coronavirus vaccine doses need to be injected at a faster pace for the elderly, especially bearing in mind the impending school half-term break.

11.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... As of Monday morning, 272 patients are being treated in hospitals across Estonia and 727 new cases were recorded in the last day, data from the Health Board shows. Of the hospitalized patients, 185 (67.8 percent) are unvaccinated and 88 (32.2 percent) are vaccinated.

10.10.21 NEWS ... As of Sunday morning, 205 people need hospital treatment for symptomatic COVID-19. A total of 255 patients with the coronavirus have been hospitalized of whom two-thirds have not been vaccinated.

09.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Sectors hit hard by the slow recovery of tourism are hoping the government will reintroduce wage support measures. As the rate of COVID-19 is rising in Estonia, the number of tourists is expected to fall in the coming months.

09.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... A national state of emergency will be declared for three months from Monday (October 11) in Latvia to fight coronavirus, the government decided on Friday. Additional restrictions will be introduced.

09.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... On Saturday, 242 patients are being treated for coronavirus in hospital and 1,068 new cases were confirmed during the last day, the Health Board said. Three people died.

09.10.21 CORONAVIRUS ... Tartu University Hospital said on Friday their normal operating rhythm has been severely disrupted. Two of four adult intensive care units have now been converted into COVID-19 units.