Covid-19, Crisis, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Medicine, Society

"Population based testing would provide us important information on how many people in Estonia have had the COVID-19 illness already and is important for further assessment of options concerning the restrictions of the emergency situation," Prime Minister Juri Ratas said through spokespeople on Thursday.

"The prerequisites for the survey and testing are analyses by experts as to which tests are the most accurate at present and in which manner it is best to carry them out," the head of government said.

The Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik said that the Ministry of Social Affairs will present proposals in collaboration with the Health Board and the scientific council on COVID-19 regarding the suitable antibody-identifying test for the sero-epidemiological survey and population based testing.

"The main keywords here are quality, reliability, and evidence-basedness. Research laboratories in Europe and all over the world are currently engaging in the validation of different serological tests,“ Kiik said.

In the opinion of the government, the survey should be carried out first on Saaremaa island and, based on the results of that survey, testing could be carried out in the rest of Estonia as well.

The action plan for the Saaremaa pilot project and its tentative budget are to be discussed by the governmental committee on Tuesday, April 14.