Three of the six villages in Kigali City that have been under total lockdown were on Sunday, August 9, allowed to go back to normal as the other three remain quarantined in order to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A statement from the ministry of local government indicates that the decision was based on an analysis done by medical authorities concerning the Covid-19 pandemic in the communities.

According to the statement, the lockdown on Ubutwari, Icyerekezo and Gukunda Igihugu all in Kabutare cell, Kigarama sector in Kicukiro district were removed from high-risk areas and thereby removed from the lockdown. 

However, the statement highlighted that, three sub-cells all in Muhima sector, Nyarugenge district will remain under total lockdown until when it will be observed that there are no more Covid-19 in these communities.

The villages, which are currently the only communities under a total lockdown in Kigali, include Tetero, Indamutsa and Intiganda.

"The citizens of the villages on lockdown are requested to continue respecting the guidelines,” reads part of the statement.

"Local authorities and security authorities are asked to follow-up on the implementation of these guidelines. People living in Rwanda are requested to continue respecting the guidelines of preventing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic as issued by health institutions,” it continued.

The development comes a day after the country announced the death of a 51-year-old man who succumbed to Covid-19, becoming the sixth death from this pandemic in the country since mid-March.

As it stands, Rwanda has recorded a total of 2,134 confirmed cases of whom 1,300 have recovered.

The numbers result from a total of 293,605 Covid-19 sample tests that have been conducted so far.

Globally, the latest data from John Hopkins University indicate that over 19,660,500 Covid-19 cases have been reported with a total of 727,258 patients losing their lives to the pandemic.