While Estonians celebrated Christmas, the number of Omicron cases increased significantly. On Thursday, December 23, there were 830 known cases of the variant, while by December 26 the number had grown to 1,500.
Estonia’s leading professor of virology Irja Lutsar commented that thus far in the pandemic, no coronavirus variant had spread as rapidly as this one. Currently, fewer people have been hospitalized than expected, which is linked to the infections being diagnosed in younger people. The Omicron variant symptoms observed in Estonia include a cough and runny nose, also characteristic to a common cold.
Ragnar Vaiknemets from the Estonian Health Board noted taht: "If it spreads two to five times faster, it could still create a situation where the need for hospital treatment rises quickly".