The just started Rwanda International Trade Fair, the country’s largest annual exhibition event, will close at 7p.m every evening, Theoneste Ntagengerwa, the PSF spokesperson said on Tuesday, December 15. He was explaining the immediate impact on the trade show by the new measures announced by the government on Monday to check the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The impact will be mainly on closing hours. In this expo we close two hours before curfew hours as curfew hours have changed,” he said. “The exhibition will close at 7:00p.m from today to December 21 and at 6:00p.m from December 22 to 31st.” The cabinet on Monday resolved that curfew hours begin at 9p.m. through 4a.m. in bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Curfew previously started at 10p.m. The latest directives are effective this Tuesday until December 21. From December 21, movements will be prohibited from 8p.m. to 4a.m. until January 4. All social gatherings, including wedding ceremonies and celebrations of all kinds are prohibited in both public and private settings. The new measures follow a recent spike in Covid-19 cases and fatalities country-wide, caused by citizens’ negligence in implementing Covid-19 preventive measures. This year’s expo kicked off on Friday, December 11, with a low number of visitors compared to previous editions. The exhibition will go through December 31. According to the Private Sector Federation (PSF), as of Friday, overall, there were 381 exhibitors who include 73 from outside Rwanda and 308 local exhibitors. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, there used to be around 500 exhibitors. There are 12 countries participating in this year’s edition, including Rwanda. This number is less than previous years’ where between 20 and 25 countries normally participated. According to PSF, this is mainly because of travel restrictions in different countries across the world in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Countries present include Singapore, Pakistan, India, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Benin, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Rwanda and Ghana among others.
