Health authorities on Sunday, February 14, rolled out a mass testing exercise for Kigali city residents who present symptoms of Covid-19. Also to be tested in the campaign that will be extended to all cells within the districts that make up Kigali, are those who have been in contact with a Covid-19 patient. Speaking to The New Times, Julien Niyingabira, the Division Manager of Rwanda Health Communication Centre (RHCC), noted that the testing exercise will be free of charge. Kigali City consists of 161 sectors out of 461 in the country. According to Niyingabira, the exercise is expected to among others assess the Covid-19 situation in the capital. Kigali has been a leading Covid-19 hotspot in the past months but fewer cases have been reported in the past few days. Symptoms of Covid-19 include shortage of breath, chest pain or pressure, fever and dry cough among others. Recently, in bid to improve citizens’ access to the testing services, the Ministry of Health cleared 42 private clinics to start testing people, using antigen rapid tests. In these clinics, the cost of a single test should not go above Rwf10,000. In total, Rwanda has confirmed 17,267 positive cases, of whom 14,477 have already recovered. Meanwhile, the country has 14 patients who are in critical condition.
