Rwanda on Wednesday, June 24 confirmed 32 new Covid-19 cases and 5 recoveries, bringing the tally of active cases to 452 against 376 of recovered ones. Of the new cases, one case was reported from Nyagatare District in the Eastern Province. According to the Ministry of Health, the new case detected in Nyagatare is a contact of a truck driver who had tested positive for the virus at Kagitumba One Stop Border. Other confirmed cases include 22 in Rusizi District, three in Kigali and six in Kirehe District where Rusumo border is located. The latest results were obtained from 3,415 sample tests taken in the last 24 hours, proving the country’s existing measure of increasing the number of daily tests. The Rwanda Biomedical Center recently noted that Rwanda’s testing capacity has increased 15 fold in the past four months and has been scaled up across the country. In total, the country has taken 121,527 sample tests since mid-March when Rwanda reported her first case. Since the start of June this year, new Covid-19 cases in Rwanda are mainly being detected among cross-border truck-drivers, returning residents and contacts of positive cases especially in Rusizi district which is currently regarded as a major Covid-19 hotspot. In this district, the Ministry of Health has dedicated three days to test the elderly in Rusizi as research shows that those over 60 years of age have a greater risk of fatality from Covid-19. Also to be tested are people with existing illnesses, including diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.
