Author: Nicole Kamanzi Muteteri

The decision to extend the lockdown was taken during an extraordinary cabinet meeting chaired by President Kagame which was held via video conference on Friday.

President Kagame thanked Rwandans for the continued solidarity and for observing measures in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The first two-week lockdown ran from March 21 was meant to expire mid-April was extended for more 15 days until April 19, making this extension the second.

Rwanda registered five new COVID-19 cases taking the total of confirmed cases to 143, according to a status report from the Ministry of Health.

The ministry also announced that within 24 hours, there had been five new recoveries that brought the number of patients discharged from designated treatment facilities to 65.

Under the lockdown, people are required not to make unnecessary movements outside of their homes.

Businesses across the country are also closed except for those dealing in essential commodities like fuel, food items and medicine.

Services like banks and telecommunication companies are also considered essential and remain in operation.

Other measures prescribed by the lockdown include temporary ban on non-essential travel between different cities and districts across the country, suspension of mass gatherings like church services and schools while all employees in the public and private sector also are ordered to work from home, apart from those providing essential services.

Public transport is also not operational, save for taxi cabs which are allowed to carry people dealing in the provision of essential services.

Rwanda’s borders are also closed except for goods and cargo as well as returning citizens and legal residents who will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine at designated locations.

The event which will take place on Good Friday, 10th, April 2020, will see different individuals and leaders of organizations connecting via a tele-conferencing facility to share strategies on how to adapt to the changes that the world is facing today.

The event will bring together speakers from around the globe in the Business Coaching and Faith-Based sectors.

The initiative to launch during a Global Coaching Conference Call will give people and businesses around the globe an opportunity to learn, evaluate, innovate and grow stronger!

“As much as the global economy is in need of financial aid; our mental health, mindset, emotional and spiritual wellbeing are in great need of an uplift. For this reason, Elite Coaches from all 4 corners of the world have come together to spur Hope and positivity through an initiative called ‘Coaching 4 a Cause’.”

The KORA Coaches are often sought as Conference Speakers or Consultants for organization of key workshops and flagship events.

The Kora Coaching Group is composed of business professionals and Entrepreneurs with a combined expertise in excess of 30 years. They have a track record in global business activities ranging from Coaching, Consulting, Advisory, to Business Development in Financial Services, Conferences and Event Management.

To be part of this experience, participants will register using the Kora coaching website:

https://kora-coaching.com/conferences/

Irembo announced on Thursday that they made more new changes to this service to improve user’s experience.

In a tweet, Irembo said: “We are excited to introduce IremboGov 2.0, an all-new redesigned & reengineered e-government service platform, which has started with 22 Local Govern’t services.”

“This also kicks off a phased migration of all services to the new platform, to be done in the next few months.”

The process takes only three steps and a fee of Rwf1200, payable digitally via Mobile Money or any other digital payment system.

This new way takes only one day to receive the certificate, but if Prosecution, the issuing institution, has a lot of requests it can take three days maximum, according to the service level agreement between Irembo and Prosecution.

The Ministry of Health said one is a Rwandan man, 32 years, who arrived on 19th, March from Dubai, UAE; while the other is a Rwandan man 34-year-old who arrived on 20th, March coming from Dubai, UAE.

The government of Rwanda has adopted new cautionary measures, including temporary closure of borders for two weeks to curb the spread of coronavirus. Rwandans have been urged to abide by all cautionary measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

Currently, 17 people have been reported infected in Rwanda and they are being treated.
According to the Northern Region Police Spokesperson, Chief Inspector of Police Alexis Rugigana, thirty-nine people were arrested during the operation that Police conducted in homes from across the district since Friday.

Three of the suspects are members of the Seventh-Day Church who were arrested as they were celebrating the Sabbath on Saturday.

Rugigana urged the general public to protect their lives and those around them by abiding with all the directives that the Government has issued to contain the coronavirus.

“As the ministries of health and local government instructed people should practice social distancing; avoiding praying in churches, in prayers’ rooms and other areas like caves, These practices are banned as long as coronavirus is still in the country,” he said.

He went on to warn that whoever will breach the directives meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus will be brought to book.

There is an average of 7,000 hospitality establishments (including hotels, restaurants and bars and accommodations facilities) across the country which employ over 84,000 workers.

Tourism and the hospitality sector currently account for about 142,000 jobs.

Barakabuye Nsengiyumva, the Chairperson of Rwanda Hoteliers’ Association (RHA) said that some hospitality establishments were already laying off workers as a way of mitigating losses and accumulation of unpaid salaries for employees who are redundant.

“We are still awaiting reports from other hotels so the figure is bound to rise,” he said.

Nsengiyumva added that they were in discussions with the government to devise measures of supporting hoteliers to remain afloat in these difficult times.

Nsengimana said that with the cancellation of flights and conferences, the sector is at risk of losing many jobs due to the crisis.

The new prevention measures that were announced by the Prime Minister, state that all government employees are to work from home, except for essential services.

Borders are closed, except for goods and cargos, as well as all Rwandan and legal residents who will be subject to mandatory 14-day quarantine at a designated location.

Traveling between different cities and districts of the country are not permitted, except for medical or essentials reasons.

Dr. Ngamije Daniel said that these measures were taken because it was realized that if not taken there was a high risk of the virus spreading throughout the country.

“Presently, we have 17 people who are infected by the coronavirus, these have crossed paths with about 688 people since their arrival in the country. We were able to locate 68% of those other people and are following up on their status, those with symptoms are being tested and others are having a daily follow-up.

“If we do not put up measures to limit all the infected people and those they have crossed path within the City of Kigali, chances are that as they travel they carry this virus to other cities and provinces and in doing so infect more people in a very short period of time. Then we will have many more cases in all those cities and provinces.”

The Minister of Local Government, Prof Shyaka Anastase said that all Rwandans need to take this matter seriously and understand that if they do not react, the pandemic will spread throughout the whole country.

Shyaka also asked citizens not to run into panic-buys as many ran to market places to stock more food commodities in preparation of the lockdown effects. He explained that among services that will continue unabated are; selling food items, hygienic products and also health services.

As we are soon celebrating the season of love, roses, and chocolate, many people around Kigali are trying to figure out how to express their love to family and partners. Some chose to go for something classic, romantic dinner with candlelight, flowers and a nice gift; while others want to go all the way out and create memories that their lovers are not ready to forget.

Keeping in mind their everyday mission ‘making fun easy’, Gameville Entertainment in partnership with Arthur Nation and many more service providers have created a very special event to help lovers all over Kigali worry about nothing other than to share a magical moment with their significant others, the perfect package to reignite the flames to your love.

A three day program that includes a romantic dinner at Radisson Blu Hotel, a Kigali city tour, Salsa Masquerade Party and many more adventures to enjoy including VIP ticket in the KASSAV Concert

Valentine is more than just a day for couples and married people; it is a day to celebrate LOVE in all its forms so single people are also encouraged to join this amazing treat!

Gameville story began when three brothers started brainstorming where to go have fun and could not come up with something active and rejuvenating. The company was built on something different; fun and collaboration. Bubble soccer was the pilot project, something that had never existed in Rwanda! This activity inspired expansion into other outdoor activities and ventured into team building activities.

Gameville prides itself on creating fun spaces for social connections, building collaboration, and teamwork.

Today, Gameville is a reservation-based company with a fast-growing number of stakeholders, many families and teams coming together. It also specializes in the area of event organization – with the ethic and vision to stand as the best in the market connecting different Service Providers and Customers to craft amazing experiences for Rwandan.

He was 71 years old

He had recently come back from India where he had gone for cancer treatment.

The late has worked in different organs of the Government, among which were education and culture where he once served as vice-rector of the former Kigali Institute of Education (KIE).

He has been the executive secretary of Rwanda Academy of Languages and Culture (RALC) since 2012 when it was founded.