Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) has published results of a Covid-19 mass testing conducted in Kigali, which indicate that 3.7 per cent of the city's population are infected with the coronavirus.

At the start of the lockdown in Kigali and eight districts last week, the Ministry of Health commenced a two-day mass testing exercise in the capital to show the prevalence of Covid-19 as well as the Delta variant.

Here are five things you need to know from the results, released on Wednesday, July 21.

1. How many people tested?

The mass screening targeted 106,050 people in Kigali or 15 per cent of residents in each cell of the three districts, Kicukiro, Gasabo and Nyarugenge. 

RBC said that a total of 107,106 people were tested and 3,965 got a positive result.

2. Positivity rate

The 3,965 positive cases indicate an average positivity rate of 3.7 per cent. However, the districts differ in the level of infection. Kicukiro has a 4.4 per cent positivity rate, Gasabo, 3.8 per cent and Nyarugenge, 2.5 per cent.

3. Areas with high infection

RBC’s results show that every cell in Kigali has Covid-19 infections. The 163 cells are categorized according to their level of positivity: low (3 per cent), moderate (3 to 4.9 per cent), high (5 to 9.9 per cent) and very high (10 per cent).

According to RBC, 70 cells have a low positivity level, 51 have a moderate level, 40 have a high level of positivity and 2 cells (Gicaca and Gasagara) in Gasabo District were found to have a "very high positivity" level of up to 10%.

4. What next?

The RBC said that another mass testing in Kigali will be conducted at the end of the lockdown to see if the movement restrictions have been effective.

5. Lifting the lockdown

The decision to lift the movement restrictions is made by the cabinet after assessing the situation of pandemic.

Currently, another mass testing is going on in the eight districts under lockdown, in which over 198,800 people are targeted.

Rwanda had recorded 60,066 Covid-19 cases since the outbreak in March 2020. As of Wednesday, 693 people had succumbed to the coronavirus.