Study gives an overview of the prevalence of coronavirus and its antibodies by 26 October

On 13 October, a new stage in the coronavirus prevalence study led by the University of Tartu started. It will give an overview of the prevalence of coronavirus and its antibodies in the adult population by 26 October.

The previous stage took place a month ago, and the virus situation in Estonia has significantly changed since then. Both the daily infection rate and the number of patients needing hospitalisation are rapidly increasing. “Vaccination rate has slowed down lately and, according to the previous stage of the prevalence study, a quarter of our adult population has not received protection from the virus either by vaccination or recovery from the disease. Monitoring changes in the prevalence of coronavirus and its antibodies is important as it allows us to revise the rules required for keeping the situation under control,” said the leader of the study, Professor of Family Medicine of the University of Tartu Ruth Kalda.

Participation in the study

In the next ten days, about 2,500 random-sampled adults are invited to participate in the survey. The survey company Kantar Emor carries out phone interviews with participants. After the interview, participants get a web link for registration to testing or a call from the Medicum and Synlab call centre to make an appointment for testing at a suitable testing site. Taking the sample takes about 10 minutes. Disabled people, older people and persons with reduced mobility can request to be visited by a test team at home.

The participant will be informed of the test results within three days. The results will be entered in the patient portal. Persons who receive a positive test result will be contacted by the study team during two to four weeks to monitor the progress of the disease.

The study is carried out by a broad-based research group of the University of Tartu in cooperation with Synlab Eesti, Medicum and Kantar Emor.

For more information about the detection of Covid-19 antibodies, see the home page of coronavirus testing. For more information about the coronavirus prevalence study, see the University of Tartu web page.

Further information: Ruth Kalda, Head of the Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, Professor of Family Medicine, 5698 5599, ruth.kalda@ut.ee