The Ambassador of Rwanda to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Emmanuel Hategeka, has said that despite fears that Rwandans living in his area of jurisdiction could have contracted the coronavirus, no case has so far been reported to his office.

Speaking to The New Times in a telephone interview, Hategeka, who could not rule out future infections, said that all efforts are being put in keeping in touch with the Rwandan community to ensure that anyone who is seeking assistance is reached.

"Let’s get this right. We suspect some of our people could have contracted the virus, especially those who were living with the ones who tested positive on arrival in Kigali. However, there is so far no reported case of a Rwandan with COVID -19 in any hospital in the UAE,” he said.

So far, 21 of the 50 patients that have tested positive in Rwanda are people who have recently arrived from Dubai, UAE.

Support mechanisms

Hategeka said that the embassy has established a 24/7 hotline accessible to all members of the Rwandan community in case of emergency assistance.

"We have also advocated for easing visa extension for those who were unable to travel back and yet their visas are expiring soon, especially those on a visit visa. We continue to search for all possible solutions to support Rwandans in need during this period,” he said.

He reminded that the government had mobilised many to travel back especially on the last RwandAir flights of 19th and 20th March.

"We also worked with RwandAir team in the UAE to reroute those that could not get seats on the flight to other flights notably Emirates via Entebbe and Ethiopian via Addis Ababa,” he said.

He pointed out that the Embassy was also in touch with students currently studying online in their hostels and continue to encourage them to follow UAE guidelines on fighting the pandemic.

Social distancing benefits

Beni Muhire is one of the 20 students on government scholarship in the Al Ain city in the UAE. He told The New Times in a telephone interview that the universities most Rwandan students go to in the UAE had already ordered a lockdown.

"We are safe. We are doing our learning online for now. For a month now, we have been living in hostels and there are restrictions on our movements. We order all the necessities online and they are delivered at our gate,” he said.

He pointed out that although they are indoors, the Embassy officials call often to check on their wellbeing.

Desire Ngoboka is a member of the Rwandan business community in the UAE dealing in shipping and logistics.

He told this publication that except for two of his colleagues who had symptoms, tested negative and we immediately put under quarantine, there has been no coronavirus incident regarding Rwandans in the UAE.

"Personally, I have temporarily moved out of Dubai City to Alain City to minimise the risk of infection but I am in touch with very many Rwandans in the business community and so far, we are all still safe because we decided to keep indoors,” Ngoboka said.

The COVID19 pandemic has continued to menace nations, and as of Wednesday, statistics showed that a total of 454,000 people had been diagnosed with the disease globally.

Of these, more than 113,000 have recovered, and about 20,500 people had died, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.