Rwanda on Wednesday, May 6, reported seven new confirmed COVID-19 cases and one recovery. This brought the tally of active COVID-19 cases in the country to 138, against 130 recoveries. The new positive cases were drawn from 1,323 sample tests conducted Wednesday, according to a nightly update from the Ministry of Health. With no reported fatality to date, the country recently eased the COVID-19 lockdown allowing most businesses to resume operations for 15 days. However, everyone has been urged to put on facemasks in public and in multi-family compounds, to continue washing hands regularly, and to practice physical distancing. Schools, bars and places of worship remain closed, while taxi-moto operators are still not permitted to carry passengers. Large gatherings such as weddings and parties remain suspended while only 30 people are allowed to attend a funeral. Employers are required to allow their non-essential staff to continue working from home or to rotate employees ensuring that a maximum of 50 per cent are in office at a time. Markets and public buses are also operating at half-capacity to ensure physical distancing, while a 5a.m-8p.m curfew has been introduced for the 15-day period. Globally, at least 3,792,278 people had been infected with the virus by Wednesday evening, 262,376 had died, with some 1,278,241 had recovered.
