COVID-19 pandemic in Estonia
Ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in Estonia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The COVID-19 pandemic in Estonia was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
COVID-19 pandemic in Estonia | |
---|---|
Disease | COVID-19 |
Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 |
Location | Estonia |
Index case | Tallinn |
Arrival date | 27 February 2020 (4 years, 1 month and 30 days) |
Confirmed cases | 610,320[1] |
Recovered | 616,311 (updated 23 July 2023) [2] |
Deaths | 2,998[1] |
Fatality rate | 0.49% |
Vaccinations | |
Government website | |
Estonian Health Board (in Estonian) |
The virus was confirmed to have spread to Estonia when the first case was confirmed in Tallinn on 27 February 2020.[3] By 11 March, 15 people in Estonia had been diagnosed with the virus. All of them had been infected outside the country, mostly in Northern Italy.[4][5] On 12 March, the first cases of locally transmitted infections emerged,[6] and on 13 March, the Estonian government declared a state of emergency until 1 May 2020. As a result, all schools and universities were closed, and all public gatherings were banned, including sports and cultural events.[7] Later the state of emergency was extended until 17 May.[8]
Saare County was the hardest hit county in Estonia by the COVID-19 during spring. It has only 2.5% of the population of Estonia, but in March, it had over half of all hospitalized patients.[9] Coronavirus was allegedly brought there by the Italian volleyball club Power Volley Milano, which participated in the 2019–20 CEV Challenge Cup matches held on Saaremaa island on 4 and 5 March. The virus may have spread rapidly in the community through a champagne festival held later on. Health officials estimate that half of the island's population have contracted the virus so far.[10][11][12] In autumn during the second wave, Ida-Viru County and Harju County were hit hardest.[citation needed]
At the beginning of the pandemic, most of the cases came in from Austria and Italy,[13] but in the second part of the year 2020, Russia, Ukraine, and Finland took the lead.[14]
In the first months of 2021 situation grow worse and by mid-March Estonia had the most new cases per capita in the world.[15] Starting from March 11 stronger measures were taken to suppress the spread of the virus.
As of 21 January 2023, 2,192,989 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in Estonia.[16]