In its second-quarter report, Kaspersky estimated that 2,023,501 attacks were carried out in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Ethiopia from April to June 2020.
The cybercriminals used a variety of methods, for instance, you might be using the internet and misleading you to another site, showing you that there is something you need to look at, asking you to include his or her profile, which can then be used to steal.
This information may include the confidential information you use in financial services such as bank accounts, debit cards, or the number of passwords you use on social media.
This opens the way for theft of money, or disrupted communications.
Kaspersky said South Africans had the highest number of such attacks as 616,666 in the three months, followed by Kenya (514,361), Egypt (492,532), Nigeria (299,426), Rwanda (68,931) and Ethiopia (31,585).
RIB recently announced that during the lockdown set up due to COVID-19, normal thefts have decreased, but cyber-crimes have risen.
The Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) Secretary-Genera, Rtd Col Ruhunga Jeannot said the figures show that cybercrime has risen by over 50%.
RBC said on their tweet account that the survey will start on August 20, 2020, and will be carried out on various roads in all parts of Kigali City.
“We are pleased to inform all the public that a new session of the #DriveThrough #COVID19 street testing survey will be conducted in all the districts of @CityofKigali from August 20, 2020. The exercise will help understand the prevalence of the pandemic in the City” Reads the tweet.
This initiative is brought in times where the number of new cases in Rwanda continues to rise, with 455 new cases of COVID-19 detected across the country in the past seven days, while the City of Kigali has been hit hardest having 365 new cases.
The first time this kind of survey was introduced, the targeted people were those entering the city of Kigali and those leaving. RBC said, on July 15, that out of 3911 samples taken of various people entering Kigali City, one person had been infected with the Coronavirus.
The statement indicates that of the new confirmed 50 were recorded in Kigali from the testing of vendors in closed Kigali markets, Rusizi they found 16 new cases while Kirehe has recorded 1 person.
Since the first COVID-19 patient was recorded in Rwanda on March 14, 2020, about 345920 people have been tested; to this day actives cases are counted to be 936 people and the pandemic has claimed the lives of 10 people.
Coronavirus symptoms include coughing, flu, and difficulty breathing. The virus is said to be transmitted through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.
Rwandans are required to continue to comply with government regulations, especially with frequent washing of hands and water and soap, wearing masks when leaving home or in public.
The health posts will provide primary health care services including; screening, testing, family planning, immunization, general medicine, and maternity services.
The two health posts have been completed at a cost of Rwf97 million. One will be supervised by Remera Health Center while the other will be supervised by Kacyiru Health Center.
SFH Rwanda Director of Health Programs, Janepher Turatsinze, told IGIHE that as a Rwandan institution that is committed to making Rwandans healthier, it has set itself the goal of building health posts is to bring health care closer to the people.
The Executive Director of Gasabo District, Umwali Pauline, said the health posts are coming to complement the government’s plan to build health posts in each cell, to make it easier to provide medical services to the people.
Umwali said they would do their best to provide better services to the health posts, including providing doctors who would treat the community.
The director of Kacyiru Health Center, Janvier Ndatimana, said the health posts will provide services for “screening, testing, family planning, immunization, general medicine and maternity services.”
Health posts built-in Gasabo District are expected to facilitate the work of health counselors, who take care of the community on the daily basis.
A health counselor in Gasasa Village, where one of the health posts is located, Mukayiraba Winnie, said it was a blessing because it will make their work easier.
“We are very blessed. We used to have women who were going to give birth but to reach out to them wasn’t easy. Some used to give birth on the way. But now that the health posts is here, in the middle of the village, it will be easier for us to get here soon.”
She asked medical workers to always provide good services so that medical services consumption gets better appreciation.
SFH Rwanda has already contributed to the construction of 169 primary clinics across the country and 10 others in the second phase.
Apart from building health posts, SFH Rwanda also provides family planning, AIDS prevention, malaria prevention, and other pandemics awareness services. The organization also provides life-saving equipment including mosquito nets, condoms, family planning equipment, and more.
SFH Rwanda strive to enable universal access to medical services without difficulties.
The organization in Rwanda started in 2012, working with other agencies such as the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), the Imbuto Foundation, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), PSI, USAID, CDC, DOD, Global Fund, SC Johnson, Abbott, IntareHealth, AmrefHealth Africa, UNICEF and more.
Bishop Murekezi who is the elder brother of Apostle Joshua Ndagijimana Masasu, passed away on Wednesday morning, August 19, 2020, at CHUK Hospital.
One of the senior leaders of the Restoration Church told IGIHE, “He died instantly at about 11 p.m. He had been suffering from a common illness at CHUK Hospital for about three months.”
Bishop Simon Murekezi Masasu is one of the longest-serving ministers in the Restoration Church which he served in the Western Province where he lived in Rubavu District.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the Police spokesperson of the Eastern region, said the suspects were arrested separately in Nyarubuye Sector in Nyarutunga Cell.
They include those, who were forging and selling the transcripts, and those who were using them.
“Two of the suspects; John Bikorimana and Joseph Tuyizere were applying for a job, which required them to produce at least a Senior Six certificate issued by Rwanda Education Board (REB),” CIP Twizeyimana said.
He added: “However, officials, who were overseeing the process, realised that their academic documents were forged, they called the Police, which took them into custody.
Bikorimana and Tuyizere were cooperative, they named two others; Emmanuel Urimubabo, 30, and Jean Baptiste Hakizimana, 26, for having helped them to forge the academic certificates. Urimubabo and Hakizimana were also located and arrested.”
Bikorimana and Tuyizere are Senior two dropouts.
CIP Twizeyimana said that Urimubabo and Hakizimana were also caught with equipment, which they were using to make the forgeries, including a computer and papers.
The equipment were recovered in Urimubabo’s house.
CIP Twizeyimana advised those seeking jobs against “building their careers and the future on forged documents and criminal background.”
“When you start your career using forged documents, you are wasting your future because at a certain point in time, you will be identified, arrested and you will go back to zero and regret all those years that you wasted instead of going to school,” the spokesperson advised.
Forgery, under article 276 of the law demining offences and penalties in general, attracts an imprisonment of between five and seven years and a fine of between Rwf3 million and Rwf5 million or one of these penalties.
During an event that took place on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, at the National Reference Laboratory, in Kigali, in which Africa Medial Supplier donated testing kits for Covid-19 to the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), officials said that the move will help speed up Covid-19 testing as well as reduce related costs.
The company provided 2,500 antigen Covid-19 test kits, and 2,500 antibody tests. The kits are worth $50,000 (about Rwf47 million) in monetary value.
Antibody testing checks your blood by looking for antibodies and reveals whether you were infected with the Covid-19 virus in the past and now have antibodies against the virus.
For antigen tests, they are diagnostic tests which quickly detect fragments of proteins found on or within the virus by testing samples collected from the nasal cavity, or from the respiratory tract of a person.
Antigen Covid-19 test kits are considered one of the rapid and easy-to-use devices intended to facilitate testing outside of laboratory settings.
Dr. Mwikarago Yvan, Division Manager of the National Reference Laboratory at RBC, said that the antigen test kits will help provide Covid-19 results within 30 minutes, which is a significant stride as the results have been taking seven to eight hours in the current situation.
Rwanda has been evaluating the technology to ascertain whether it works well and can expedite test results for Covid-19.
“It is the first time we are going to use antigen-based rapid Covid-19 tests. The validation we have been carrying out has shown that this kind of test is one of the rapid means we can adopt,” he said.
Fabrice N. Shema, CEO of Africa medical Supplier said that these test kits will help the Government to rapidly conduct mass screening, which is important in dealing with the pandemic.
“As there is no effective cure for the Covid-19 pandemic yet, what we can do is to test as many people as possible in a short time especially in places where many people meet, such as markets, so that everyone knows their state – whether they are Covid-19 positive or not so as to make informed decisions,” he said.
“If people are trained in how to use such kits, the number of tests can increase to 100,000 per day. That helps devise further preventive measures against the virus when one is not infected with it, and provide timely treatment to the asymptomatic patients for Covid-19,” he said.
Mwikarago said that the country has the capacity to perform up to 5,000 Covid-19 tests per day by using PCR technology; he indicated that the country will use the new kits and continue to assess their performance to ensure their effectiveness.
“If we find that they are providing rapid and reliable results, we will procure others such that we can use them countrywide,” he said.
A PCR test is a molecular diagnostic testing technique that detects the genetic material from the virus and can help diagnose an active Covid-19 infection.
Currently, a person has to pay $50 (about Rwf47,000) to be tested for Covid-19 in Rwanda, as per information from RBC.
Shema said that the new kits could help lower the fee paid for getting Covid-19 results.
“Based on the estimates that have been made, the cost could be $10,000 (about Rwf9,500) per Covid-19 test. But, that fee might even be reduced based on negotiations,” he said.
The group includes those, who were allegedly breaking into houses, attacking and robbing shops and petrol stations. Among the arrested are the ringleaders, who were helping to transport the stolen items and looking for buyers.
The suspects were paraded before the press in Rubavu District on Tuesday, August 18.
Their arrest comes in a wake of a series of violent burglaries in Rubavu and Rutsiro districts between June and July, during which a number of people were attacked and injured with machetes and other weapons.
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Police spokesperson of the Western region, said the suspects were arrested separately in Rubavu and Rutsiro.
“So far, we know at least nine theft cases in which they allegedly stole electronics including computers, flat television sets and smartphones as well as two motorcycles, robbing a petrol station and injuring six people in the process,” CIP Karekezi explained.
On July 7, the ring allegedly broke into an electronics shop in Kavumu, Ruhango Sector of Rutsiro District and stole assorted electronics including laptops and smartphones valued at over Rwf2 million. They also assaulted and injured the security guard, who was guarding the shop.
In another incident, on July 29, they allegedly attacked Gemeca petrol station in Gisenyi town, injured four people (two guards and two pump attendants), and stole about Rwf400,000.
The group is also suspected to be behind the burglary that occurred in the night of July 15, in Gisenyi town where they robbed a shop of two flat television screens and phones valued at over Rwf4.4 million;
While in the night of June 17, they allegedly broke into another shop in Rubavu and stole phones worth Rwf1.5 million.
According to CIP Karekezi, all the items and money stolen amounts to over Rwf12.4 million.
“So far, we have recovered from the suspects, three flat television screens, one laptop and two smartphones as well as spare parts for the two motorcycles, which had been dismantled,” CIP Karekezi said.
One of the suspects identified as Emmanuel Ndagijimana alias Peter is said to be the coordinator of the group who has been facilitating the ring to transport, store and sell the stolen items.
“Operations are still going on to identify and arrest anyone connected to this violent criminal group, including all those dealing in these stolen items, and to recover other electronics still missing,” said CIP Karekezi.
He appealed to anyone with information on this criminal group, whether its members still at large or where the stolen items are stored or sold, to come forward to facilitate the recovery and fight against this criminality.
The Minister of Local Government, Prof. Shyaka Anastase, via Twitter, told the public that this should mean something to them and intensify measures to prevent and protect others from the pandemic.
“Today, COVID-19 killed two people. This is the first time in Rwanda that we lose more than one person in1, one day. ! This should mean something to all of us: to protect ourselves, to protect our people, to protect the nation, NOW! Whatever you do, wherever you are, do not ignore it, it is deadly!”
Since the first COVID-19 case was recorded in Rwanda on March 14, 2020, the country now has 2577 confirmed cases recorded from 342,614 test samples, 1683 are recoveries while 884 are still in hospital and ten have died.
Rwandans are required to continue to comply with government regulations, especially with frequent washing of hands and water and soap, wearing masks when leaving home or in public.
“Condolences to families of two Rwandans 45 years old and 55-year-old who passed away today,” wrote the Ministry of Health in the August 18 update.
On the same day, the country also confirmed 37 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 2577 and the active cases, 884.
The update also states that of the new cases Kigali recorded 28 these are contacts of positive cases & testing in high risk groups, Rusizi has 6 cases while Rwamagana, Rubavu and Huye each recorded one case.
Rwanda has so far registered 1,683 recoveries after 22 patients who were discharged on August 18.
The general public is very much concerned by the increasing number of cases in the capital Kigali that has led to the closure of two big markets of Nyabugogo-Kwa Mutangana and the Kigali City Market.
The Minister of Health said that they will conduct a general test in the near future to see whether another lockdown could be an option to consider.
Symptoms of Coronavirus include coughing, colds, and difficulty in breathing; it is transmitted through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.
Rwandans are required to continue to comply with government regulations, especially with frequent washing of hands and water and soap, wearing masks when leaving home or in public.
