As of the morning of March 20, a total of 283 COVID-19 coronavirus cases have been identified in Estonia, an increase of 16 on Thursday's number. Ten people are currently hospitalized with the virus

Most patients with coronavirus have presented with mild symptoms and none of the hospitalized patients currently require intensive care.

A total of 2,504 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Estonia since January 31.

Martin Kadai, head of the Health Board's (Terviseamet) department of emergency medicine, said the ratio of tests carried out to confrimed cases and hospitalizations indicated that the country starting detecting the virus in the early stages of its propagation.

Active provision of information to the populace, rapid identification and the counseling of primary sufferers and those who have been in contact with them have served their purpose, he said, adding that the rate of increase had not speeded up.

"We're seeing that the number of newly confirmed cases has not increased at an accelerating rate every day, and [the rate of increase] has remained relatively stable for a week," said Kadai, according to ERR's online Estonian news.

"However, over the same period, the number of daily laboratory tests has not decreased," he said, qualifying that by saying this does not mean that the risk of the virus spreading has disappeared.

"It is the responsibility of every person in Estonia to strictly adhere to the requirements of infection safety - a person with symptoms should certainly stay at home and not infect others," said Kadai.

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