There has been no death and 244 recoveries. There are now 95 active cases.
The main challenge so far has been cases from cross border truck drivers who import the virus from regional countries. The government always isolates them on arrival and deals with cases appropriately.
In the last seven days, the City of Kigali in partnership with the police, Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion and National Children Commission, has been taking street children to designated places where they are screened for Covid-19 and other health problems before being reintegrated into their families.
Mutoni Gatsinzi Nadine, the Vice Mayor of City of Kigali in charge of Socio-economic Affairs said that since the initiative began on March 20, a total of 744 children have been taken off the street; 484 of them rejoined with their families while others were taken to rehabilitation centers. There are 53 children from upcountry while 25 have no families.
Some families being economically hit by the pandemic, closure of schools and domestic violence are part of the reasons why the number of street children has increased.
“Street children and beggars are at risk of catching Covid-19 from the streets. We call upon the public to help us curb the spread of this virus by not giving money to beggars because that might lead to an increase in the spread of Covid-19,” Mutoni said.
she noted that if people need help or want to help, local leaders will facilitate the process. There are safe channels to help people.
According to the Vice Mayor, one of the main reasons that there has been an increase in children taking to the streets is not poverty but irresponsible parenting. When integrating children with their families they sign an agreement that they will protect them from joining the streets again.
“In most cases, irresponsible parents are the main reason for children to go to the streets. When the agreement is breached, there are penalties in place,” she explained.
The new cases follow two more cases which were reported by the Ministry of Health on Sunday as the country continues to observe a strict regime aimed at containing new cases emanating from cross border movements.
The Ministry said that all cases were isolated upon arrival. Rwanda has not reported any community-linked cases. East African Community countries are intensifying efforts to curb cross border cases linked to trucks transporting goods between countries.
The number of active cases increased from 90 to 98 while one person recovered, putting total recoveries at 238.
Rwanda National Police called upon all people to continue observing guidelines put in place by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The development was announced in statement signed by the Prime Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente on behalf of the head of state. It reads:
His Excellency The President has suspected from duty Mr. GASANA Emmanuel, Governor of Southern Province and Mr.GATABAZl Jean Marie Vianney, Governor of Northern Province owing to matter of accountability under investigations.
Both Provinces have been cited in the 2019 Auditor General’s report as entities where public resources went unaccounted for but it is not yet clear if the suspension is linked to the report. President Kagame however during the National Leadership Retreat said many top officials, including Ministers would be held accountable in months to come.
Prior to his appointment as Governor, Gasana was the Inspector General of Police (IGP) while Gatabazi had been a Member of Parliament for 14 years.
Out of the 1,400 people who were tested on Sunday, only two tested positive for the virus, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 327 of which 237 have recovered.
Since the first the coronavirus case was reported in Rwanda in March, the country has conducted 58,477 tests.
The CEO of the airline Yvonne Makolo said that the airline will direct the funds in sustaining operations and expanding the airline as flights resume after a lull occasioned by coronavirus pandemic.
“We are looking at both, sustaining operations and expanding the airline but for now we are waiting to see if skies will reopen and we resume flying,” She said.
RwandAir grounded flights as part of the measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 and only recently launched cargo flights in the region and beyond as an alternative as passenger flights remain suspended.
Last month, RwandAir announced that they would cut employees’ salaries by between 8 percent and 65 percent while the top management team forfeited their salaries. Makolo said the airline has not laid off any staff.
“We have not laid off any staff and we don’t hope to do so,” Makolo said, adding however that fully restoring operation will depend on the subsiding of COVID-19.
RwandAir recently resumed cargo flights to and from Guangzhou, China, flights from Mwanza, Tanzania, to Brussels as well as London in a bid to rake in revenue from the growing demand of goods.
Makolo said the plan is working out well with the demand for cargo shipment on the increase as many countries continue to impose travel restrictions to contain the spread of Coronavirus.
President Paul Kagame said the government would consider investing more money in the airline to sustain its operations last month.
The Ministry of Health on Wednesday said six new cases were detected out of 982 tests done over the last 24hrs.
The Ministry also confirmed that 7 people have recovered, bringing the number of total recoveries to 216, leaving 98 active cases.
The Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) confirmed that all the new cases are attributed to cross border drivers and their assistants.
East African Community (EAC) nations are battling cross border transmission, with leaders of the Northern Corridor countries coming up with joint measures to contain the cases.
The measures which previously saw countries resort to blocking entry of drivers and their assistants have been revised in line with the resolutions of the Heads of State Consultative meeting.
Among the new measures, trucks will be stopping and offloading at designated entry points, except those carrying fuel and perishable goods.
Countries also agreed to do regular testing of drivers and their assistants, stopping those who test positive from proceeding, while Rwanda too will be testing drivers upon arrival and escorting trucks with perishable goods or fuel to their final destination and transit trucks to the point of exit.
the Ministry of Health launched the robots, Tuesday, May 19 at the Kanyinya COVID-19 Treatment Centre. They have been acquired with the support of United Nations Development Programme.
The five high-tech robots can perform a number of tasks related to COVID-19 management, including mass temperature screening, delivering food and medication to patients, capturing data, detecting people who are not wearing masks, among others.
Made by Zora Bots, a Belgian company specialized in robotics solutions, they are designed with various advanced features to support doctors and nurses at designated treatment centers, and can also be leveraged into screening sites in the country.
The robots have the capacity to screen from 50 to 150 people per minute, capture both video and audio data, and notify officers on duty about detected abnormalities for timely response and case management.
Dr. Daniel Ngamije, the Minister of Health said that the idea of using the robots is aimed at reducing exposure of health workers to possible Covid-19 infection.
“Medics and other front-liners visit patients’ room many times to deliver medication, meals, carry out tests, among other things – and this may pose a risk of contracting the virus,” he said.
“These robots will fasten service delivery while protecting our valuable health workers against COVID-19 exposure.”
There haven’t been cases of medics that have caught the virus according to Dr Ngamije. However, he said there is a cleaner at a COVID-19 treatment facility in the country that tested positive for the virus.
Dr. Ngamije said that robotics engineers will be training the Ministry of Health staff concerning the use of the robots for about one month, after which it is expected that the ministry’s officials will be able to operate them.
Paula Ingabire, the Minister of ICT and Innovation said that COVID-19 has accelerated the need for digital solutions across various industries, especially in the health sector.
“There are various innovative solutions being applied to combat COVID-19, and the robots delivered today in these treatment centers, will be deployed to support our frontline health workers in treating and containing the pandemic by taking on routine tasks.”
According to Dr. Ngamije, more robots are expected to be brought in the country to assist in the COVID-19 fight.
Evelyn Kamagaju was appointed Vice-Chairman while other seven board members include Alice Nkulikiyinka, Diane Karusisi, Ivan Kagame, Eric Kacou, Solange Uwituze, Liban Soleman Abdi and Faith Keza.
Uwituze has served as the Deputy Director-General in Charge of Animal Resources and Technology Transfer at Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) since 2018. She has a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition and a Master’s degree in Animal Sciences.
Ivan Kagame holds an MBA from the University of California. He is an entrepreneur and investor mainly in renewable energy.
Eric Kacou is an Ivorian national and the Co-Founder of Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners, a firm that offers consultancy to businesses.
Kacou’s operations in Rwanda started with his OTF Group, a firm that played a role in developing competitiveness in the country’s human capital in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He has also led the Rwanda National Innovation and Competitiveness Program.
The development is part of the cabinet resolutions passed on Monday, May 18 and decided on many topics among which new guidelines for the prevention against the COVID-19 were released.
According to the same statement, apart from the 50 young women convicted of abortion, the cabinet also approved a Ministerial order granting conditional release of 3,596 convicts.
This makes a total of 3,647 convicts who are expected to be released with several obligations as citizens, also having to avoid recidivism.