Restrictions in Ida-Viru, Harju counties to continue until February

COVID-19 testing. Photo: Urmas Luik / Pärnu Postimees

Members of the Estonian government on Thursday approved in principle the continuation of restrictions in Ida-Viru and Harju counties until February 1.

It was decided to relax the ban on indoor youth work, hobby activity and education, refresher training and further training, sports and training, and to ease the restrictions on museums and exhibitions, as well as on catering establishments, from January 18. Contact learning in schools will resume from January 25, government spokespeople said.

The government also extended the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages across Estonia. This means that until January 26, alcohol may not be sold under the current restrictions from midnight until 10 a.m. From January 27, alcoholic beverages may not be sold between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. The ban will be valid until February 28.

The government also approved in principle the continuation of support measures in Harju County and Ida-Viru County.

From January 25, it will be allowed to resume contact learning on all levels of education in Ida-Viru and Harju counties. Until January 25, the grades allowed to participate in contact learning include 1-4 as well as 9th and 12th grade. Other grades and vocational and higher education students will continue in distance learning until January 25. Precautions must be taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus. An overview of precautionary measures and other issues in the field of education is available on the website hm.ee/koroona. The use of disinfectants and compliance with disinfection requirements must be ensured in the premises used for learning activities.

Hobby education and activities, refresher training and further education, youth work, sports and coaching will be allowed indoors as individual activity. Outdoors, all the listed activities are still allowed in groups of up to 10 people.

Museums and exhibitions will be allowed to open in accordance with the 2+2 rule and the occupancy of the room must not exceed 50 percent. Outdoors, a group of visitors can still be up to 10 people.

From January 18, the ban on spending time on site in the sales or service hall of a catering establishment will be relaxed. The premises of restaurants and cafes as well as other catering establishments may be open for customers to spend time on site from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The requirement of up to 25 percent room occupancy must be considered, meaning customers must be scattered in the room, the 2+2 rule, which does not apply to families, must be considered when moving around the premises. There will be no time limits for selling food for takeaway.

Until February 1, the existing restrictions on the spending time in places of entertainment shall remain in force, meaning saunas, spas, water parks and swimming pools must remain closed to visitors, except for individual sports.

Public meetings and events, including conferences, theater performances, concerts and cinema screenings, will be prohibited indoors. Outdoors, public events and meetings may be attended in a group of up to 10 people and the groups must not come into contact with one another. The public outdoor event must end at 10 p.m.

Worship services and public religious services must continue to adhere to the 50 percent room occupancy restriction, the mask-wearing obligation and the 2+2 rule, the latter of which does not apply to families.

People arriving in Estonia from states with a high infection rate and seeking to be exempted from the self-isolation requirement will be required to take a coronavirus PCR test from Friday.

Starting from January 15, people who seek to exempted from the requirement to self-isolate for 10 days upon their arrival in Estonia must undergo coronavirus PCR testing up to 72 hours before arriving in the state, spokespeople for the government said. A second test can be taken in Estonia no earlier than on the sixth day from the first test taken abroad. The person will be exempt from the 10-day self-isolation obligation if the results of both tests are negative.

People who have not been tested for the coronavirus up to 72 hours before arriving in Estonia can take their first test immediately after their arrival in the state and their second test no earlier than on the sixth day after the first test. Their 10-day self-isolation can be terminated early if the results of both tests are negative.