As the global coronavirus cases fast approached the two million mark on Tuesday, April 14 – with more than 125,000 deaths worldwide– health authorities in Rwanda announced seven new cases taking the country’s tally to date to 134. While the new cases will have dashed many people’s hopes of the economy reopening next week, the nightly Ministry of Health statement also carried some good news: seven people were discharged from hospital on Tuesday after making full recovery. This took the number of people who have recovered from the virus in Rwanda to 49, more than a third of the confirmed cases in the country. Most importantly, Rwanda has recorded no coronavirus fatality to date. While it remains hard to predict when we are likely to reach the peak and go on to flatten the curve, the fact that the number of tests that return negative remains significantly high, on a daily basis, is another indication that we are making progress in this fight. For instance, the seven cases confirmed on Tuesday were part of the 983 tests conducted in a space of 24 hours, with all the others returning negative. This is in line with the general trend, at least since the Government started publishing the number of total tests run every day since last week. This goes to show how social distancing measures are proving effective in curbing the spread of the deadly virus. It is, therefore, important that each one of us continues to play our part by observing all the mitigation measures, including the lockdown,social distancing, and frequent hand-washing, as well as cooperating with regard to isolating suspected cases and contact tracing. This is true at the country level as it is at the regional level and across the world. Obviously, as Heads of State of the East African Community hold a video conference on the crisis on Wednesday, April 15, citizens of the region will be hoping the leaders come up with a bold, coherent regional strategy to tackle the pandemic. Indeed, the region needs to pull in the same direction as far as mitigation measures are concerned. All resources must urgently be mobilised towards flattening the Covid-19 curve – both at the national level and across the EAC bloc – to pave the way for a return to normalcy.
