President Paul Kagame has has become one of the latest global leaders and celebrities to join the World Health Organisation's social media campaign that seeks to show people how to properly wash their hands in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

The Rwandan leader joined this #SafeHands challenge on Sunday, with a video of him handwashing. Subsequenly, he challenged several other leaders and  high-profile personalities to join the cause by posting footage of themselves washing hands. 

Kagame challenged several Heads of State and Government, including President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, President John Magufuli of Tanzania, President Felix Tshisekedi of Democratic Republic of Congo, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as well as International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

Rwanda reported its first COVID-19 case on Saturday, before announcing four more infections on Sunday. 

Health experts say frequent and thorough hand-washing is one of the most important tools in the fight against Covid-19, which has killed more than 6,000 people worldwide.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus launched the SafeHands campaign on Friday challenging wolrd leaders to create and post their own videos washing hands.

The challenge has since been taken up by leaders and celebrities from across the world who have posted videos washing their hands, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Brazilian football legend Kaka, and Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson  Becker.

The world is currently battling the outbreak of coronavirus, which is spreading more like wildfire. While medics are investing all their time and energy to find immediate cure to the deadly virus, they are also urging people to take necessary precautions by maintaining basic hygiene starting withwashing hands regularly to covering your mouth while coughing or sneezing. The World Health Organisation has since declared the novel coronavirus as pandemic. 

Rwanda announced it has recorded five cases of coronavirus over the weekend, making it the second East African country to confirm a positive case after Kenya.

The deadly novel coronavirus, or COVED-19,  originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year and has since claimed over 5,000 lives with more than 134,000 others affected across 110 countries and territories.