Rwanda on Sunday, April 19, reported seven more COVID-19 recovered cases and three new confirmed cases, raising the tally of recoveries to 76, against 71 active cases. The results were drawn from 722 samples tested on Sunday. With no reported deaths so far, the Ministry of Health said in a statement that all active cases are in stable condition at designated COVID-19 treatment centres. However, one of the patients is currently receiving oxygen therapy, which the Ministry says is a precaution. Since the outbreak of this pandemic in the country, the Government has employed several directives to contain it, the recent one being the mandatory use of face masks in public and in multi-family compounds. Rwanda Biomedical Centre explained that multi-family compounds are two or more houses located in the same compound where families living there share things like washing rooms, kitchen and rest rooms among others. Twenty-two local firms were recently authorized to produce personal protective equipment, and according to the Ministry of Health, these equipment that include face masks will be available on the market by Monday, April 20 at affordable prices. Other directives meant to curb the spread of the virus include a country-wide lockdown that will go up to April 30. In addition to self-distancing and frequent washing of hands, general citizens are continuously urged to report COVID-19 symptoms such as dry cough, high fever and shortness of breath as early as possible.
