Covid-19, Education and Science, Estonia, Markets and Companies, Medicine

The university is is mid-way through its antibody-based seroepidemiological study KoroSero-EST. More people have participated in the study from Oismae than from Kuressaare, thus more participants are still needed. While full participation by the target group is required for drawing any definitive conclusions, current results already indicate more extensive spread of the virus than shown by national statistics based on nasopharyngeal swab samples.

Do date, over 2,400 people have been invited to participate in KoroSero-EST. Over 900 people from the Oismae Jarveotsa family medicine center and some 400 people from the Kuressaare center have agreed to take part in the study, which aims to include altogether 1,080 people from each center.

Participants in the study are selected based on a random sample drawn up by the Estonian Health Insurance Fund, which includes all age groups.

One of the objectives of KoroSero-EST is to ensure better preparedness for a possible second coronavirus wave to prevent the need to once more suspend all social life.

Participants in the study will learn whether or not they have come into contact with the coronavirus.

"Initial study results show that there is quite a large number of people who have not been ill and, as far as they know, have not come into contact with a COVID-19 patient either, but their antibody test has proven positive. This shows that they have actually come into contact with the coronavirus," Piia Jogi, head of the research group and teacher of pediatrics at the University of Tartu, said.

Jogi noted that the presence of antibodies very likely indicates that the person has developed immunity; however, it is not known for how long the antibodies persist or for how long the person will be immune to the virus.

The head of the study group noted that no definitive conclusions can be drawn from the study yet as the sample from one region is significantly larger than from the other one and some age groups have yet to be studied.

"What we can say, however, is that based on antibodies, the virus has spread more extensively than shown by national statistics based on nasopharyngeal swab samples, or PCR analyses. Also, there were more people who had come into contact with the coronavirus among the patients of the Kuressaare family medicine center than among those of the Jarveotsa family medicine center," Jogi said.

The University of Tartu is also conducing a coronavirus prevalence study as part of which the spread and course of the epidemic in Estonia will be assessed based on nasopharyngeal swab samples. Some 16,000 to 20,000 people across Estonia will be interviewed and tested in order to provide the state with the data needed for gradually phasing out the emergency situation.