Alcohol, Covid-19, Estonia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

The government supports the introduction of a restriction on the sale of alcohol from Friday, government spokespeople said. The restriction will suspend the retail sale of alcohol at catering and entertainment establishments in Tartu County from 11 p.m. The appropriateness of the restriction will be assessed after two weeks and, if not extended, it will expire late on August 31.

Prime Minister Juri Ratas said that the government has already previously assumed the direction that in the event of new outbreaks, restrictions should be imposed in a targeted manner and as locally as possible. "In the last week, several new outbreaks have occurred in Tartu and Tartu County, where 41 active infections have been confirmed in 14 days. At the same time, half of the Estonian counties are not infected. Therefore, we did not consider it justified to impose a restriction on the sale of alcohol in the whole of Estonia and we supported the introduction of a restriction only in Tartu County," he said.

At the same time, Ratas stressed that all people in Estonia have a role to play in preventing the wider spread of the virus. "The coming weeks are critical as regards the further spread of the virus. Please, especially in the coming weeks, avoid crowded and closed rooms, keep a safe distance with other people, wash your hands and stay home if you fall ill. Only in this way will we be able to take control of the situation and continue our daily lives without new major restrictions," he added.