These drugs have been discontinued under the guidelines that hand sanitizers should contain ethanol alcohol at a rate of between 70% and 80% or isopropyl alcohol at 75%.
The Rwanda FDA said that based on laboratory tests conducted by the agency, it was found that the Guard-Hands sanitizer (30ml) and the purell-instant hand sanitizer (60ml) did not meet the requirements and thus ‘the drugs were discontinued’.
Rwanda FDA warns people that methanol is not used in the manufacture of hand sanitizers because it is used as pesticide and has a detrimental effect on health. The agency requires users of hand sanitizers to check the information on the bottle in which the drug is purchased.
These guidelines are 70% to 80% ethanol or 75% isopropyl and other important ones include glyceline and hydrogen peroxide.
There has been a spate of public outcry in recent days criticizing some police officers for breaking the law as they enforce lawful orders that includes shooting civilians and outright.
In an interview with the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency on Sunday, President Paul Kagame said he had heard of the issue, and had instructed the police top administration to address the issue.
CP John Bosco Kabera said it was inappropriate for the police to use excessive force, and that the police are going to make efforts to inform Rwandans of how such people are being prosecuted.
He cited examples of police officers who shot dead civilians in Nyanza District and beat a resident of Rwamagana to death, all of whom were being prosecuted.
“Police officers involved in the recent incidents of brutality have been arrested and investigations are ongoing,” CP Kabera said.
“A police officer who shot people to death on March, in Nyanza on a motorcycle, was arrested, is being prosecuted. He is in prison, but people don’t know what happened next.”
Police officer who recently beat a resident of Rwamagana District, Karenge is in courts litigation. Also, another one who recently shot to death a resident of Zaza in Ngoma is under investigation.
He further added that in addition to legal penalties, police officers are subject to disciplinary action including those that mistreat members of the public, those who harass citizens, those who provide poor services, and those who neglect duty, among others.
On September 6, 2020, Rwanda recorded 25 new cases taken from 3481 sample tests, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4,374 while 36 have recovered bringing the number of recoveries to 2,335.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, the country has recorded 19 deaths; the ministry said the recent deceased was a mother of 76-year-old from Kigali City.
Of the new cases, Kigali recorded 16 cases from testing in high risk groups, while Rusizi has 4 new cases, and Rubavu confirmed 3, leaving Rwamagana and Kirehe with each 1 new case.
Coronavirus symptoms include coughing, flu, and difficulty in breathing. The virus is said to be transmitted through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.
Rwandans are required to continue complying with government regulations, especially with frequent washing of hands and water and soap, wearing masks when leaving home or in public.
The suspects include one Onesphore Kamana, 45, who was caught with 15 tonnes of Cassiterite and Coltan minerals.
Others are Joseph Nshimiyimana, 37, who was found with 300kgs of cassiterite and coltan and Justin Habumuremyi, 46, found with 31.5kgs.
Other four suspects were at the time conducting illegal mining activities.
They are identified as Jean Bosco Hagenimana, 25, Theoneste Gafaranga, 25, Samuel Iyakaremye, 28, and Theoneste Gafaranga, 48.
The information on these people’s illegal mineral business was shared by community policing partners, according to Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Aloys Bugingo, the District Police Commander (DPC) of Kamonyi.
“These people fall in two groups; those who engage in mining and those who buy the minerals from them. There is a group of illegal miners that calls itself Abahebyi, which in most cases operates at night, and these strengthened operations are meant to break these chains,” the DPC said.
He also issued fresh warning to the people involved in these illegal businesses that is not only dangerous to individuals, but also destroys the environment.
“They must know that their business is illegal and punishable by the law. Sometimes, these illegal mining activities have resulted into fatal accidents. Most of them do it at night, without even protecting themselves.”
Similar operations conducted last week also saw the arrest of six illegal mineral dealers.
Article 54 of the law on mining and quarry operations, states that any person who undertakes mineral or quarry exploration, exploitation, processing or trading without a licence commits an offence.
Upon conviction, the offender is liable to imprisonment for a term of between two and six months and a fine of not less than Rwf1 million and not more than Rwf5 million or only one of these penalties.
The court also orders confiscation of any seized minerals or quarry in storage, trading or processing without a licence.
Both damaged facilities were recently closed as part of the measures of COVID-19 prevention and were yet to be opened at the time of fire outbreak. The motel offers bar, restaurant and lodging services while the city valley market trades in fruits and vegetables.
Faustin Kashugera, the proprietor of City Valley Motel said a big part of the facilities was damaged.
“We are yet to know the causes of the fire outbreak but we saw it coming from the other side of the market. There were no goods in that market,” he said.
“There were so much property damaged by fire in my motel and I don’t know the total value at the moment since we have not yet carried out inventory of the damages,” he said.
The Fire Brigade was at the scene immediately to extinguish the fire. The cause of the fire has not yet been established.
Kagame made the remarks while responding to a question on the subject, Sunday, during a press interaction with RBA, saying that he had been following up on the issue and from his understanding, it was the actions of a few individual officers and not operational guidelines of the police force.
“I have learned that there have been individual excesses which I don’t attribute to lack of training. They have sufficient training, they have ability and commitment. This depends on individuals,” he said.
The Head of State said he had instructed police leadership to ensure that any officers found to have engaged in excesses will be held accountable in a transparent manner.
“We are going to see change; there is no need for that excessive force. Even when the one you are dealing with maybe a hardcore criminal the police are trained and know how to deal with such a situation without applying excesses,” he said.
He added that the isolated incidents should not tarnish the image of the Rwanda National Police.
The awareness also involves mass testing of vehicle emissions. It is conducted in line with the ‘International Air Quality Day’ held every September 7, to educate the public on air pollution and control measures.
The Clean Air Day brings together communities, businesses, education, and the health sector to improve public understanding of air pollution, both indoors and outdoors; build awareness of how air pollution affects human health, and to explain some of the easy things that can be done to tackle air pollution towards environmental protection.
The campaign was held across highways connecting the City of Kigali to other parts of the country as Police officers from Motor-vehicle Inspection Centre (MIC) engaged in testing automobiles’ fume emissions.
Air pollution is the single greatest environmental risk to human health and one of the main avoidable causes of death and disease globally, according to the UN.
Transportation is considered the largest single source of air pollution globally leading to climate change.
Pollution in the air is now the fourth-highest cause of death worldwide, trailing smoking, high blood pressure, and diet-related diseases. The majority of these deaths are recorded in poorer countries.
It is estimated that more than 90 percent of people globally breathe polluted air and approximately seven million people die from air pollution-related causes every year.
According to Modeste Mugabo, Air Quality Monitoring Sector Specialist in REMA, Rwanda lies in the safer zone of the Air Quality Index.
“Rwanda falls under the moderate stage of the Air Quality Index, and the awareness, as well as testing fuel emissions, are part of the implementation of the national policy to ensure the air is clean and to prevent related diseases,” Mugabo said.
The key greenhouse gases associated with road transport are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).
Medical experts say that pollutants cause aggravated respiratory diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis, asthma lung damage, heart diseases, and reduced resistance to infections.
“Motorists drive through roads with no idea of the ill-effects of their exhaust fumes on the environment and people’s health, and this awareness is designed to influence especially motorists’ understanding on the problem control measures,” Mugabo said.
Today, Rwanda has nine Air Quality monitoring stations and one reference station.
The UN observes that in the absence of aggressive intervention, the number of premature deaths resulting from ambient air pollution is estimated to be on track to increase by more than 50 percent by 2050.
Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Bernardin Nsengiyumva, the Deputy Commanding Officer of Motor-vehicle Inspection Centre (MIC), said that fuel emission is one of the tests conducted at MIC.
“The MIC services also include testing emissions to supplement national efforts in implementing the policy on the environment, and fighting air pollution in particular.
For a vehicle to be certified as roadworthy, it also has to pass the emission test at MIC,” CSP Nsengiyumva said.
Currently, MIC operates four testing lanes and a mobile lane, all with the capacity of inspecting more than 500 vehicles per day.
According to CSP Nsengiyumva, about 20 percent of inspected vehicles emit gas.
MIC also acquired mobile emission testing devices used on highways.
CSP Nsengiyumva said that with the mobile testers, any vehicle found emitting gas, even if its mechanical inspection is still valid, has to be fixed before it’s allowed on the road again.
The statement from the Ministry on Friday said that the number of new patients in Kigali was 29 from Kigali market cluster, Rusizi has recorded 10 cases, Karongi has 3, Kayonza confirmed 2, while Kirehe, Nyamasheke, Musanze, Nyamagabe, and Nyaruguruhave each recorded 1 case.
On March 14, 2020, the Ministry of Health confirmed that an Indian, who had arrived in the country on March 8, 2020 from Mumbai, was diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus caused by the new Coronavirus.
Since then, the country has confirmed 4,304 COVID-19 cases taken from 431,992 sample tests. Of these, 2095 are still active cases; eighteen people have succumbed to the pandemic.
Coronavirus symptoms include coughing, flu, and difficulty in breathing. The virus is said to be transmitted through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.
Rwandans are required to continue complying with government regulations, especially with frequent washing of hands and water and soap, wearing masks when leaving home or in public.
Coursera is a world-wide online learning platform founded in 2012. It offers open online courses, specializations, degrees, professional and master track courses.
The platform works with universities and other organizations to offer courses in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, and others.
The RDB Chief Skills Office and RTN are giving both unemployed and employed Rwandans access to 90% of Coursera catalogue courses and certificate programs at zero cost.
With the Coursera programs, registered learners are gaining unlimited and free access to more than 3,800 courses taught by highly reputed professors and mentors from world-class universities such as Duke University, University of London, Ecole Polytechnic Paris, University of Amsterdam, National University of Singapore, New York Institute of Finance, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Yale University in the USA, John Hopkin’s University and from companies such as International Business Machines Corporation and Google among others.
Commenting on the program, Elodie Rusera, the RDB Chief Skills Officer said;
“The RDB Skills Office and RTN are working closely with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation to see that this initiative is successfully rolled out to improve the skills of public servants and all Rwandans as well as improve digital literacy through courses on the Coursera platform. This initiative is an intervention in the labour market, especially for Rwandans that have been affected by Covid-19 to re-skill and re-enter the workforce. By the end of December 2020, we expect more than 13,000 people will have been trained under this Coursera partnership with RTN and RDB Skills Office.”
Today, 4,200 Rwandans from different backgrounds are enrolled in various courses on the platform.
On August 18th this year, a virtual convocation was held to celebrate the achievement of around 2,000 first graduates from 17 Commonwealth counties. Rwanda is the second country after Ghana to have the highest number with over 480 people who have successfully graduated in this program mainly in information Technology, Management and communication courses so far.
Paul Barera, the Chief Executive Officer of RTN, noted:
“We understand that some learners may not have access to internet or computers but we are working with the RDB Skills Office to leverage Government’s Employment Service Centers and our Telecentres located in every district countrywide to give people access to the facilities.”
To enroll on any of the courses being offered as a Government employee, please liaise with your HR manager or send an email to skills@rdb.rw. For non-Government employees, please fill the application form available on this link: https://rtn.rw/rtn_col_coursera_workforce_recovery/ or send an email to e-learning@rtn.rw
The 16th Kwita Izina will be held under the theme “Conservation and Sustainable Tourism – A Foundation for Future Generations”.
This year, 24 baby gorillas that call Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park home will be named by the Volcanoes National Park staff – the frontliners of conservation who protect and care for them every day.
They will include the park rangers, guides, wardens, trackers and veterinary doctors, among others.
World Gorilla Day marks the day that renowned gorilla conservationist Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda in 1967. It is a day that encourages people around the globe to join conservation efforts to protect gorillas in the wild.
This year’s virtual event will feature updates from the field on how rangers, vets and researchers work everyday to protect gorillas and a handover ceremony of the community project RDB embarked on to improve access to potable water for the communities living around Nyungwe National Park.
The community project is part of the Tourism Revenue Share Programme, in which 10% of total tourism park revenues are invested back into communities, contributing to the development of communities living adjacent to Rwanda’s national parks.
Additionally, this year, RDB is working with conservation and private sector partners to organise the Conversation on Conservation, a virtual session that will bring together scholars, researchers, conservationists, policy makers and the private sector to discuss, debate and find solutions to today’s conservation challenges.
Speaking during her remarks at a virtual press conference held on 4 September, RDB Chief Tourism Officer, Belise Kariza noted: “Having Kwita Izina virtually this year gives us the opportunity to celebrate those who are at the forefront of protecting the endangered mountain gorillas and share Rwanda’s conservation success with Rwandans. We hope to inspire everyone to visit our beautiful country and experience the wonder of trekking to see the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. Rwanda is open for tourism, and the sector underpins so much of our conservation work. That’s why we are proud of the impact of sustainable tourism on our national development and environmental protection efforts.”
The practice of giving a name to a newborn baby, known as ‘Kwita Izina’, has been part of Rwandan culture for centuries. The name attributed to a baby gorilla plays a significant role in the ongoing programme of monitoring each individual gorilla in its family group and habitat.
