Man washing hands in a public place in Kigali in preventive measure of COVID-19. First case has been registered and it is from an Indian citizen
An Indian citizen who arrived in Rwanda on March 8,2020 from Mumbai has tested coronavirus positive, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health has confirmed.
Upon arrival, the communiqué from the Ministry reads, the person did not have any symptom of Covid-19, but on March 13, 2020, he reported himself to a health post for a test.
He therefore tested positive.
“He is currently under treatment in stable condition, isolated from other patients. The tracing of all contacts has been conducted for further management,” reads the communiqué.
The communiqué reminds all the people to keep observing all instructions from ministry of health particularly by washing hands regularly, avoiding large gathering, and reporting any symptoms by calling the toll free number 114.
The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 147 countries and territories around the world as of March 13,2020.
However, the list by www.worldometers.info/coronavirus is yet to be updated to include Rwanda and any other possible new country.
The pandemic covid-19 has so far cost lives of 5.441 people. Of these victims, 3,189 are from China and 1,266 from Italy.
In Africa, 18 countries including Rwanda are so far affected. Egypt registered the biggest number of cases with 19 confirmed cases and 2 deaths followed by Algeria with 48 cases and 4 deaths.
In the region, two other cases were registered in Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) and another in Kenya this week.
In Rwanda, all measures and instructions in regard to fighting Covid-19 are referring to a communique of the Prime Minister dated March 6,2020.
Considering that the virus is spreading quickly, the Prime Minister instructions advised that people should avoid handshake and hugging which is normally a Rwandan culture.
It also requested to avoid unnecessarily trips in countries that are so far affected, avoiding coughing and sneezing in the public among others.
On top of everything, constant hand-washing is recommended.
Meanwhile, country’s carrier, RwandAir has suspended trips to Israel, Guanzhou-China and Mumbai-India.
Unnecessarily public gatherings have been suspended and so were entertainment events.
The country withdrew from international sports events until further notice.
However, preparations of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting(CHOGM) are on high gear.
Read: Rwanda Eyes $700M Trade Deals From CHOGM2020
CHOGM is slated to take place in Kigali in June this year.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Rwanda Development Board(RDB) Clare Akamanzi told the media yesterday, that Rwanda will keep doing all necessaries to prepare for the good conduct of the summit, hopping that by April, Covid-19 will be slowing down to an extent that in June, it would not prevent CHOGM from taking place here.
