Estonian minister: Strict restrictions perhaps won't be necessary under 3rd wave of virus

TALLINN - Estonia's Minister of Public Administration Jaak Aab, standing in for the prime minister, expressed hope at Thursday's government press conference that restrictions as strict as during the previous waves of coronavirus probably will not be necessary during the third wave.

"I believe that a harsh lockdown like there was during the previous waves -- that we will not have to do it," Aab said at the press conference. According to him, vaccination gives us hope for this.

While the delta strain of the virus that is spreading in Estonia now is more contagious than the previous strains, at the same time, the vaccination coverage in spring was not what it is now.

Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik added that the government assesses the situation on the basis of seven indicators. These are the average number of deaths, the number of people hospitalized during a seven-day period, the number of people under mechanical ventilation during a seven-day period, the number of cases of infection, the proportion of positive tests, 

the change in the number of people requiring hospital treatment, and the number of potentially unidentified infected.

Aab emphasized that if restrictions are imposed, it will be done according to the situation.

"All restrictions must be based on the level of danger and the level of risk," he said.