In an announcement which was published on March 20th, 2020 from RDB says the suspension starts today.
“Starting tomorrow, Saturday 21st March 2020, tourism and research activities in NyungwePark, Volcanoes Park and Gishwati-Mukura National Parks will be suspended until further notice as a preventive measure against the transmission of COVID19.”
RDB states that although it is still unknown if animals can contract coronavirus, mountain gorillas and chimpanzees are known to be susceptible to infection with human respiratory pathogens.
While all the three parks will be closed, Akagera National Park will continue to operate with the ministry of health monitoring measures in place.
The first case of coronavirus in Rwanda was identified on March 14th, 2020 on an Indian citizen who arrived in Rwanda from Mumbai, India. Ever since, newly infected patients have been increasing reaching 17 on March 20th, 2020.
On Wednesday, March 18th, 2020, the ministry of health announced a complete air travel ban for 30 days starting March 20th, 2020 at 11:59 pm, local hour. Only cargo and emergency flights will keep operating.
Rwanda Convention Bureau (RCB) has recently announced that due to coronavirus outbreak, at least 20 meetings which were expected to be held in Rwanda had been canceled bringing along an estimated $8 million loss. In June this year, Rwanda is expected to host 147 meetings including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) earning $88 million.
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