As a result, all schools and universities were closed, and all public gatherings were banned, including sports and cultural events.

[9] Coronavirus was allegedly brought there by the Italian volleyball club Power Volley Milano, which participated in the 2019–20 CEV Challenge Cup matches held on Saaremaa island on 4 and 5 March.

Health officials estimate that half of the island's population have contracted the virus so far.

[10][11][12] At the beginning of the pandemic, most of the cases came in from Austria and Italy,[13] but in the second part of the year 2020, Russia, Ukraine, and Finland took the lead.

[14] In the first months of 2021 situation grow worse and by mid-March Estonia had the most new cases per capita in the world.

[16] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

27 February: Estonia confirmed the first COVID-19 case, an Iranian citizen fell ill on board a bus from Riga, Latvia to Tallinn and called himself an ambulance, the 34-year-old man tested positive.

[3][22] 3 March: A second person tested positive; the patient had arrived on 29 February from Bergamo, Italy travelling through Riga Airport.

[23] Two other Estonian passengers from the same flight and one returnee from Bergamo, arriving through Tallinn Airport, tested positive on 5 March.

[43] 26 March: In Südamekodu elderly home in Saaremaa two residents tested positive for coronavirus.

[49] All public gatherings were banned, including sports and cultural events; schools and universities were closed; border control was restored with health checks at every crossing and entry point.

[53] On 27 March, Emergency Committee decided to tighten quarantine rules in Saaremaa and Muhu: majority of shops were closed and new movement restrictions were introduced.

[54] The Estonian shipping company Tallink decided to suspend their ferry service on the Tallinn-Stockholm route from 15 March.

[55] The Latvian airline airBaltic suspended all flights from 17 March including those from Tallinn Airport.

[56] Vaccinated have the opportunity to create a European Union digital COVID certificate in the patient portal.