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29 May, 2020



“Estonia has good prerequisites to go through the corona crisis – empty spaces are plentiful, social distancing is part of the culture, digital solutions are widespread, and the health system is trustworthy. At the peak of the crisis, 60% of hospital beds and 17% of intensive-care beds were occupied. Still, learning points from the crisis are many. The communication by the authorities could have been clearer, restrictions fewer and better targeted, and the activities and messages by different parts of the state better streamlined.” 

Excerpt from Swedbank Macro Research: 



COVID-19 Eestis
Viimati uuendatud: 29. mai 2020
[Harjumaa 689 | Saaremaa 551 | Pärnumaa 144 | jne.]



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Friday 
29. May
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Kaitseminister Luik selgitas pärja viimist pronkssõduri juurde
(ERR)
“Pronkssõdurit peetakse hauamonumendiks ning selle juurde viiakse pärg 9. mai asemel 8. mail, et vaenuliku propaganda võimu vähendada, ütles kaitseminister Jüri Luik.”





1. juunist pääsevad 16 riigist saabujad Eestisse karantiinita
(ERR)
“Karantiini peavad välisminister Urmas Reinsalu sõnul jääma Rootsist, Belgiast, Portugalist, Maltalt, Luksemburgist, Itaaliast, Hispaaniast, Hollandist ja Taanist Eestisse reisinud inimesed. Samuti mitte Schengeni piirkonda mitte kuuluvatest riikidest Ühendkuningriigist ja Iirimaalt tulnud inimesed.”



Lifting of restrictions on passenger movement to Estonia for citizens of European countries
(GlobeNewswire)
“… 16 Schengen countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland) may enter Estonia without a quarantine obligation and in addition, citizens of 11 other European countries (Sweden, Belgium, Portugal, Malta, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland) may enter the country, but must then remain in quarantine for two weeks.”









Millistes maailma riikides on koroonaviirus kontrolli all ehk kust Eestisse tulles pole karantiin vajalik?
(Delfi)
“Eestisse saabudes tuleb viibida 14 päeva karantiinis juhul, kui inimene saabub siia riigist, kus viimase 14 päeva COVID-19 haigestunute arv 100 000 elaniku kohta on suurem kui 15. Väiksema haigestunute arvuga riigist tulles karantiinis viibima ei pea.”





Interview: Prime Minister Jüri Ratas regarding COVID-19 emergency
(ERR)
“We will do it better, smarter next time. We will do everything we can do localize outbreaks. And we need to have a ready supply of personal protective gear. The general principle needs to be that we will not close Estonia, while we will isolate the virus.”



Kaitseministeerium näeb politsei abilisena pigem kaitseliitlasi kui kaitseväelasi
(ERR)
“… et peagi plaanib ministeerium tutvustada seaduseelnõusid, mis lubaks politsei- ja piirivalveametil (PPA) kriisi korral rohkem abiväge kaasata. Muu hulgas saaks PPA võimaluse kiirkorras uusi töötajaid värvata.”



Coronavirus Heats Up Estonian Sauna Industry
(Reuters | ERR)
“Saunas won’t cure coronavirus, however they are an antidote to the kind of stresses of our modern lives, and I’m sure the pandemic has heightened some of those stresses.”



Travel to the US may soon be possible for some travelers from Europe
(Forbes)
“With travel restrictions across Europe tumbling to make way for summer tourism, it’s only natural the U.S. looks to easing the rules, and rekindling Europe flights. It won’t necessarily be reciprocal. While Europe’s internal border controls are ending, there is still doubt as to whether the EU’s external borders will open to foreigners on June 15. Given the U.S. is seen as a high-risk country, some European states don’t plan to allow American tourists at the outset as they open up to tourism.”



A one kilometre railway section for NATO forces opened in Lithuania
(LRT)
“… will help connect the training and deployment area in Pabradė, eastern Lithuania, with the country’s only seaport of Klaipėda, facilitating the transport of allied forces.”



Air Travel Is Going to Be Very Bad, for a Very Long Time
(The Atlantic)
“For all intents and purposes, the airlines are shut down now. They’re still flying, but at vastly reduced levels. The majors are running maybe 5 or 10 percent of their normal number of departures. …”













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Thursday 
28. May
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Estonia Already Lives Online—Why Can’t the United States?
(The Atlantic)
“The United States, meanwhile, is experiencing a carnival fun-house version of attempted technological innovation, running into trick walls and watching as tasks that could be much simpler contort into nightmarish versions of themselves.”
“We have this expression that [Estonia] is ‘digital Narnia,’” Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonia’s president from 2006 to 2016, told me over the phone from Palo Alto, California. “It’s a lot better than other places, but we’re not digital Narnia. We don’t fax our pizzas!”





Goodbye, Open Skies Treaty
(Riddle)
“… what a US withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty might look like for Russia and EU.”







Spain successfully leading NATO’s Baltic Air Policing
(NATO press release)
“Based at Šiauliai Airbase in Lithuania, the Spanish Air Force is helping to protect the airspace of NATO’s Baltic Allies Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania until the end of August.”






Evil Replaced by Evil: The Baltics, the USSR and the Nazis
(JF Ptak Books)
“This rare, offset-printed publication comes from the representatives of the Free trade Unions of the Baltic States–a part of the International Federation of trade Unions (IFTU)--and is dated December, 1943, and is a witness to the brutal regimes that illegally and maliciously subverted the countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.”





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Wednesday 
27. May
__________


Millal algab õppetöö Euroopa riikides?
(Delfi)
“Reps kinnitas õhtupoolikul üle, et ametlikult algab 2020/2021 kooliaasta ikka 1. septembril, kuid augusti keskel võiksid õppetööga alustada need, kes selleks soovi avaldavad.”





Kaitsevägi ostab Saabilt kõige moodsamad Carl-Gustavid
(ERR)
“Esimesed relvad jõuavad Eestisse aastal 2022 ja viimane tarne on planeeritud aastal 2024. Uusi granaadiheitjaid hakatakse kasutama paralleelselt praegu kaitseväe varustusse kuuluvate modifikatsioonirelvadega M2 ja M3.”





Nordic, Baltic economies will be hit hard but can bounce back
(Latvian Broadcasting)
"The Nordic and Baltic economies will be hard hit by the COVID-19-induced shock due to their small size and relative openness. Strong economic fundamentals and a timely reaction to the health crisis ensure that the countries are in an advantageous position to take on the challenge," says Swedbank in its latest Nordic-Baltic Business Report.”



"We Will Have to Learn to Live with COVID-19”
(Spiegel)
“Belgian pandemic expert Peter Piot helped discover the Ebola virus, and is currently advising the EU on the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also a survivor of the disease, and found it much worse than he had expected.”



Euroopa Komisjon pakkus välja 750 miljardi suuruse taaskäivituse
(Postimees)
“Euroopa Komisjoni president Ursula von der Leyen tutvustas täna europarlamendi ees kauaoodatud ELi uut eelarvekava ja samuti taaskäivitamisfondi, mis kannab nime «Järgmise põlvkonna EL».”








Eesti saaks 1,8 miljardi eest toetusi
(ERR)
“Euroopa Komisjoni energeetikavolinik Kadri Simson ütles kolmapäeval ERR-ile, et Komisjoni pakutava kava kohaselt saaks Eesti uuest fondist 1,8 miljardi euro eest toetusi. Lisaks kasvaks ka Ida-Virumaale laekuvad toetussummad, kuna suureneks rohelise ülemineku tagajärgede leevendamiseks loodava õigase ülemineku fondi (JTF) maht. Samuti oleks Euroopa Ühendamise rahastus (CEF) nii palju vahendeid, et Euroopa Liidu järgmise eelarveperioodi (2021-2027) jooksul saaks Rail Balticu valmis ehitada.”






How the Coronavirus Revealed the Hollowness of Putin’s “Vertical of Power”
(The New Yorker)
“The pandemic has shown that Vladimir Putin’s system is better at fostering a kind of psychic or virtual power than wielding real power in a time of genuine crisis.”






Moscow Orchestrates Controversy Between Bulgaria and Ukraine to Weaken Kyiv
by Paul Goble
“Tensions between the countries would make it more difficult for the Bulgarian authorities to support Ukrainian aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union, thus forcing Kyiv to turn back in Moscow’s direction. This Russian-backed and -exploited controversy has touched off a diplomatic row between the two governments. …”



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