4 minute read
in Action by Morgan Guérin
DIGITAL SUCCESS - Estonia -
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Covid-19 is likely to change the future of learning. In Estonia, this is old news
Europe Versus Coronavirus - Estonia, Digital Technology in Action
Key Points 1. The very high level of digitalization of Estonian public services has allowed the government to continue its activities, adapt to new needs, and come up with new solutions. Most of these digital services have been developed jointly by the government and the many companies in the Estonian IT sector.
2.The coronavirus epidemic began in Estonia at the end of February, with a first confirmed case on the 27th. At the beginning of March, the island of Saaremaa became the epicenter after the Milan volleyball team played a match there.
3. Neither domestic production of masks nor the stocks were sufficient to meet domestic demand, forcing the country to wait for the delivery of international orders. The screening campaigns occurred quickly and often, allowing the health authorities to follow the evolution of the contaminations precisely.
4. It was only about 20 days after the first case was identified that the country set up health checks at the borders and a mandatory quarantine period for anyone arriving in the country.
Analysis “In Estonia, all public services are available online; the only act you have to do in person is get married”, as Kersti Kaljulaid, president of the Republic of Estonia, explains in an interview to the Harvard Business Review on April 20.
Estonia remains relatively unaffected by the Covid-19 epidemic that has severely affected the major Western European States. As of May 4, only 1,700 people had been infected and 55 deaths were reported, for a rate of 1,255.9 per million inhabitants, compared with 3,367.26 for Italy, 4,564.99 for Spain and 1,967.75 for France. However, these numbers should be viewed with caution, as they are highly dependent on the number of tests carried out.
Estonia created Suve, a state-approved automated chatbot to provide trustworthy information during the COVID-19 situation
billion euros in 2018 (World Bank), the country experienced a growth of 4.8% (OECD) in the same year and a public debt of 12.7% of GDP, the lowest in the eurozone. In 2018, the Estonian government was spending 4.9% of its GDP on public health care, compared to 9.2% in Japan, 9.5% in Germany, 9.3% in France and 6.5% in Italy.
Again according to the OECD, the country had 4.7 hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants in 2017, with the same ratio of 13.1 in Japan, 8 in Germany, 6 in France and 3.2 in Italy. There has generally been a steady improvement in the level of health of the Estonian population since 1991: in 2015, life expectancy in Estonia was 78 years, which is close to the average of 80.6 years for other EU countries.
Over the last twenty years, the young Estonian state has shown an impressive level of maturity in its administration in terms of its use of digital tools. Tallinn has become an important center of technological innovation in just a few decades. Thanks to Bolt and Skype, the country has become a hub for many start-ups with global importance, valued at well over one billion dollars.
The Government’s Response
Throughout Estonia, emergency measures were comparable to those taken elsewhere in Europe. Citizens were asked to stay at home and were only allowed to go out to work, or to buy food or medicine. Public events were banned and museums and cinemas remained closed. In shops permitted to remain open - food shops, pharmacies, telecommunication companies, and banks - as well as in the street, citizens were asked to respect the "2 + 2" rule, limiting travel to groups of no more than two people and imposing a distance of two meters separating them from others. This rule did not apply to families. Schools and higher education establishments - with the exception of nursery schools - closed starting March 16, with continued educational activity via remote learning arrangements.
Starting March 17, health checks were organised at the borders to identify the infected. Every person entering the country was required to fill in a questionnaire to specify the reasons for their stay and declare where they would be staying. Daily ferry trips between Tallinn and Helsinki, economically important cities, were prohibited.
Estonia has been one of the most active countries in Europe in terms of testing. With 41.62 tests carried out per 1,000 inhabitants, they were far ahead of France (11.1), Spain (28.9), Germany (30.4) and Italy (34.88). While it seems that Estonia’s small population partly explains their success, it is also important to take the government's proactive approach into account. As early as April 6, the country's health authorities indicated that they wanted to screen symptomatic as well as asymptomatic people. This was in order to have a better understanding of the evolution of the epidemic between the different countries and of the rates of prevalence of the virus within the total population. Tests have been therefore conducted randomly and reported on a weekly basis.
If the question of masks and screening methods have, like elsewhere, been the subject of much debate, it is the role of digital tools that is at the heart of Estonia's singular response to this unprecedented crisis.
