COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda


The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Rwanda in March 2020.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. Model-based simulations for Rwanda indicate that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number R t has been around 1.5 since early May.

Timeline

March 2020

The first case of COVID-19 in Rwanda was confirmed on 14 March 2020. Four other people were tested after the first case tested positive, bringing the number of cases to five.
By 16 March, Rwanda confirmed two more cases in Kigali, bringing the total number of cases in the country to seven. In an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus,
the Rwandan Ministry of Health announced on 18 March, via Twitter, that all international commercial passenger flights would be suspended for 30 days, with effect from 20 March. Less than a day later, on 21 March, officials announced a two-week lockdown. Both public and private employees are to work from home, under strict measures. All borders are also to be closed, cargo and Rwandan nationals being exempt, with a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
On 28 March, the Ministry of Health recorded six new COVID-19 cases, taking the total of those diagnosed with the virus to 60.
By the end of March there were 75 confirmed cases, no deaths and no recoveries.

April 2020

On 9 April, three new cases of coronavirus were identified, out of 720 samples examined in the previous 24 hours. This brought the total number of confirmed cases to 113 people.
In April there were 168 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 243. 104 patients recovered, leaving 139 active cases at the end of the month.

May 2020

On 31 May, the first death was confirmed. The number of confirmed cases stood at 370. The number of recovered patients increased by 152 to 256, leaving 113 active cases.

June 2020

A cluster of cases in the Rusizi District of western Rwanda, on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, caused the number of confirmed cases to spike. This, together with a smaller cluster in the Rusumo on the eastern border with Tanzania, sent the number of confirmed cases from 370 at the end of May, to 572 by 14 June.
During June there were 655 new cases, raising the total number of cases to 1025. The death toll doubled to 2. The number of recovered patients increased by 191 to 447, leaving 576 active cases at the end of the month.

July 2020

Rwanda was the only sub-Saharan state listed whose citizens and residents are able to travel to the European Union from July.

Government reaction

In addition to the lockdown measures taken in March, Rwanda National Police on 12 April announced the usage of drones to deliver messages to local communities on how to combat the coronavirus.