Rwanda conducts record 3,495 Covid-19 tests as Rusizi continues to be a hotspot
Monday, June 15, 2020

Rwanda on Sunday, June 14, carried out 3,495 Coronavirus tests, the highest to be conducted in a day since the outbreak three months ago.

From these tests, there were 41 positive cases of Covid-19, which brought the count of confirmed cases in the country to 582.

Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, the Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre noted that "Most of the new cases are household members of previously confirmed Covid-19 positive in Rusizi”, he tweeted.

Rusizi has emerged as the new hotspot for the virus, a spike that is attributed to cross-border traders from DR Congo.

Kamembe town, in Rusizi, is the largest concentration of cases in the region, has been put under total lockdown.

Rwanda’s overall recovery count stands at 332 against 248 active cases whereas two deaths have been registered so far.

The total number of tests carried out since the country registered her first case in March is 91,151, according to the health ministry.

Rwanda has increased the testing capacity since the emergence of the Rusizi cluster, according to Nsanzimana.

"In the last ten days, more than 7,000 tests were carried out in Rusizi district only, because we are carrying out tests door to door," he told Rwanda Broadcasting Agency.  

The Ministry of Health continues to urge heightened vigilance because the Rusizi cluster is still generating new cases. 

Rusizi had by Sunday recorded 100 cases in two weeks.

According to statistics by Rwanda Biomedical Center as of Sunday, June 14, Rwanda’s total confirmed cases were composed of 324 imported ones whereas the remaining 208 were contacts of imported cases.