A screening exercise for Covid-19 which was conducted in public and private transport around the City of Kigali established the positivity for the pandemic now stands at 0.5 per cent within the capital. The screening was conducted by Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) and was carried out over three days, between May 17 and 19. According to RBC 2,000 samples were collected from passengers of public buses, private cars and moto taxi drivers and only 10 out of them tested positive (0.5% positivity rate. “The exercise provides a better understanding of the pandemic’s prevalence in identified areas and groups,” says RBC. Meanwhile, the health body says that additionally, 1, 000 people were tested for Covid-19 related antibodies. The kind of testing is carried out through collecting blood samples from their fingers. The technology can help detect people who have ever suffered from Covid-19 and recovered. At least 116 people of the samples collected tested positive for antibodies, which is at 11.6 percent meaning that they were found to have contracted Covid-19 before. The survey indicates that 43 people among those found positive had been vaccinated. Meanwhile, on May 21, the ministry of health tested 5,839 people of which 72 were found Covid-19 positive in 24n hours. Karongi, Ngororero, Nyamagabe districts of Western Province had the highest number while Kigali City recorded just six cases. At least 83 people recovered on the same day. In general, the positivity rate is at 1.2 percent across the country. In general 1.3 million people have been tested so far since the outbreak of the pandemic of which 26,601 people were found with Covid-19. Of those infected, 24,967 or 93.8 percent have recovered according to statistics. There are still 1,285 active cases and one in critical condition. At least 349 Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded. As Karongi continues to fight an uptick of cases, On May 21 Rwanda received from the US Government a mobile X-Ray machine to provide support to the Kibuye Referral Hospital’s ability to diagnose and treat COVID19 patients. Vaccination demand Rwanda has so far vaccinated 350,400 people. The ministry of health recently disclosed that the country is optimistic it will have vaccinated some 7.8 million people representing 60 per cent of the population by June, next year. The United Nations Security Council has issued a rallying call to global institutions for support to expand Covid-19 vaccine access for African countries. A text that it unanimously adopted said that Africa had so far received only 2 per cent of the vaccines administered worldwide, according to BBC. Speaking at the virtual Global Health Summit, co-chaired by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President of the European Union Commission Ursula von der Leyen, president Kagame aid that ending Covid-19 will require expanded pathways to vaccine access for populations throughout the world. He made a case for production of vaccines in the region saying that much more input is needed for Africa to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic.
