A man wearing a face mask delivers food in Tallinn, Estonia, March 26, 2021. The Estonian government's current restrictions affecting schools, shops, restaurants and public events entered into force on March 11 and will stay in place until at least April 11. (Xinhua/Guo Chunju)
TALLINN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus infection rate has been decreasing across Estonia, local media reported on Friday.
A declining trend in new infections has been registered in Harju County, which includes the capital Tallinn, as well as in Laane-Viru County in the northwest and in Saare County in the west. The reproduction number (R, the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected person) fell to 0.9 in Harju County, Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) reported.
"The trend is good, but there is no certainty about it yet," Krista Fischer, professor of mathematical statistics at the University of Tartu and member of the government's scientific advisory council, was quoted by the ERR as saying.
At the same time, Fischer warned against the premature easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Estonian government's current restrictions affecting schools, shops, restaurants and public events entered into force on March 11 and will stay in place until at least April 11.
In the past 24 hours, 5,876 coronavirus tests have been performed in Estonia, of which 1,151, or 19.6 percent, came back positive. In the past 14 days, the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants was 1,452.50, and 19.8 percent of all initial tests came back positive, the Estonian Health Board said on Friday.
As of March 26, 101,587 Estonians, or 9.1 percent of the total population, had tested positive for the virus. To date, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 847 people in the country.
A total of 185,910 individuals have already been vaccinated against COVID-19, of whom 126,215 have received one dose and 59,695 both doses, the Estonian Health Board said. Enditem
