Frequently asked questions

To get tested, you must have a referral letter from your family doctor for a coronavirus test. Start by calling your family doctor.
The testing call centre set up by Medicum and SYNLAB will contact you within one day of receiving a referral letter from your family doctor for mobile coronavirus testing. Generally, you can expect to get tested on the same day or the next day at a mobile sampling site, with a waiting list of up to 2 days for home testing.

According to the agreement between the state, the Health Board and the Estonian Society of Family Doctors, sampling sites have been established. You can find them HERE.
The nasopharynx sample can only be given by the person who received the electronic referral letter on the basis of their identification document.
You must arrive in a personal car to the sampling site to ensure the highest level of safety for you, the person scheduled before and after you, and the healthcare professionals taking the sample, who are currently working bravely at the forefront and are so critical to us all. As potential carriers of the virus are not allowed to travel by public transport or taxi. You may arrive on foot if necessary.

When you come from quarantine to give a sample, you should get into your car right after you have left your house, give a sample and return home immediately afterwards.
Drive the car to the agreed place on time!
Please turn off the car engine while giving the sample.

In addition to mobile sites, there are also home sampling units available across Estonia thanks to Fertilitas, Alre, Elder, SYNLAB, Kuressaare and Kärdla Hospitals. If you do not have the opportunity to travel by car, please state this at the time of booking and you will be given the opportunity to receive a mobile unit at home in the coming days.

On the day of the testing, the mobile unit will contact you and inform you when they will arrive to take the sample. Please be sure to stay home that day!

If you have a referral letter from your family doctor and have agreed on a time and place for the testing, drive there even if you arrive a little later. Your sample will still be taken and the queue will be arranged on site.

For people with special needs or without a car, a coronavirus sample taken from the nasopharynx will be arranged at home, and a specific time is agreed for this. At present, there are 10 home units available all over Estonia.
If a mobile unit is coming to your home, you will be called in advance and the exact time of arrival and your location will be agreed upon. Please be sure to stay home that day!
Taking a test at home is many times more expensive! 
After each home visit, the sampler replaces all his or her protective equipment, which is in limited supply in Estonia. Therefore, home testing is only possible to a limited extent. Therefore, if possible, we ask you to come to the mobile sampling site by car and leave the possibility of testing at home to those who really need it. We thank you in advance for your understanding!

In the context of public testing, there is no desire to favour people who own a car, but such testing is designed to ensure a maximum ability to test and at the same time not spread the virus.
Coming by public transport or by taxi allow for the virus to be spread widely by its carriers. In addition, car sampling is safer for people working at mobile points as well as for the previous and next patients in line, as there is less human contact and virtually no contact with surfaces.
The Government Crisis Committee has clearly stated the following: people with symptoms of upper respiratory diseases must be quarantined at home! This means not using public transport and not going to the grocery store or elsewhere, as this constitutes extremely risky behaviour.

In accordance with the agreement with the Health Board, the result must be issued in Estonia within 48 hours.
In case of a positive result, you will be contacted by the testing call centre, regardless of whether you have given a referral-based sample, a paid sample or a sample at the border. Those who gave a referral-based sample can see their results on digilugu.ee using an identity document with an Estonian personal identification code. In addition to the possibility to view the result on digilugu.ee, the test takers who paid for the test can agree with the institution that took the sample on how to obtain the additional result (usually encrypted by e-mail).

All results are also forwarded from the laboratory to the family doctor who made the referral, to the Health Board and to the health information system.
In case of a negative result, a corresponding short message will be sent to those who crossed the border (both Estonian citizens and foreign nationals).

If your test is positive, stay home and follow your family doctor’s recommendations. If you feel unwell, contact your family doctor or call 112 for an ambulance.

During the emergency situation in effect in Estonia, the Government has decided to make an exception and reimburse the first three days of illness retroactively for sick leaves taken from 13 March until the end of the state of emergency. The benefit rate depends on the reason for the absence from work and is calculated on the basis of the employee’s average income for the previous year.
Once the changes necessary for payment have been accepted, the Estonian Health Insurance Fund will make an additional payment for those whose sick leave certificate has already been closed and who are in good health by that time. This may take some time due to the additional workload. If you are still running out of sick leave at that time, you will receive the total amount of extra days’ benefit. It is likely that these payments will start in May, the Health Insurance Fund explains. More information can be found HERE.
The planned change does not affect the certificate for care leave, as they are already financed by the Health Insurance Fund from the first day of illness and to the extent of 80% of the carer’s average salary last year.

• Work from home. Don’t go to the office (communicate through your phone, Skype, Teams, Zoom, etc.).
• Shop wisely. Plan your shopping ahead, go to the store alone and stock up on food for a prolonged period.
• Avoid public spaces. Exercise alone, away from others.
• Be social only by means of digital solutions.
• Strictly follow the rules of hygiene. Wash your hands!
• Require your family, loved ones and friends to follow the same rules — we need to make a collective effort to combat the virus.

See the recommendations of the Health Board for a person suspected of having COVID-19 HERE.

• From the crisis hotline 1247, you can receive instructions for dealing with emergencies and issues related to the coronavirus (available 24/7, free of charge). Hotline 1247 also offers psychological first aid to people in need.
• If you have any health-related questions, call the family doctor hotline at 1220 or +372 634 6630 (you can also call from abroad).
• In case of breathing difficulty or shortness of breath, call the emergency number 112.
• If you have any questions, please contact the Health Board by e-mail: info@terviseamet.ee