With all the gloomy news doing the rounds in the media on the current state of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is not surprising to see a new epicentre of the pandemic. First it was China before the disease devastated Italy, Spain and France. The United States has been leading the infections and body count but now it seems that will not be the case for long, the new flashpoint is Brazil. Experts from the University of Sao Paulo fear the worst, that the number of infections has already passed the 1.5 million mark and counting. There are now even fears that the Indian tribes in the Amazon Forest could be endangered if they came into contact with the disease. Add the fact that the Brazilian president is another defiant Head of State and you have disaster on the plate. As we have been arguing within these pages, the only guarantee of defeating the virus is if all countries worked in tandem towards a common goal, but it seems we are still very far off the mark. For Rwanda’s case, it took the outbreak very seriously at the beginning and now seems to hold the upper hand and is already thinking up a series of post-Covid measures that include a stimulus package worth over $200 million. That is very significant and easily made headlines, but some things are being done low-key behind the scenes, and yet they have helped shield hundreds of thousands, if not millions indirectly. In the first week of May alone, nearly half a million members of cooperatives received over Rwf 1.4 billion to see them through the lockdown. Not all news on COVID-19 should bear ill-tidings, a little bit of cheer is also needed
