COVID 19: Staying at Home is a bitter decision that provides positive results
Although the city of Kigali has about two days to go from total lockdown to partial lockdown, it does not mean there are no longer COVID 19 positive cases in the city.
By: Isabella IRADUKUNDA Elisabeth
Residents of Kigali have been in lockdown for more than two weeks as a concrete way to help prevent the spread of COVID 19.
The cabinet meeting convened on February 2, 2021 under the chairmanship of President Paul Kagame, concluded that the lockdown in the city of Kigali be extended for another week from 3rd to 7th February.
This means that on February 8 there will be activities that will be resumed but in accordance with the pandemic prevention guidelines which include use of the minimum number of the workforce while public transport will be allowed to carry ½ of the regular passengers in the bus.
The new strategy will be in place until February 22, 2021, when the measures will be re-evaluated and other strategies will be put in place as part of the continuous effort to contain the virus.
Rwanda’s Health Minister Dr Daniel Ngamije in an interview with RBA said that the reason why the city of Kigali was given an extra week of Lockdown was needed to reinforce the achievements it had made in the past two weeks.
He explains that the outcomes was reassuring because new infections and deaths decreased.
Dr. Ngamije said “When you compare the number of deaths in the last two weeks in our daily report, they have dropped by 36% due to the prevention efforts and new medicines that are being delivered to the patients,”
“We want the patients to be given all the necessary treatment to prevent them from dying, and we also remind people that COVID 19 is still here despite misinformation from various people that the virus is a disease of the rich and the elderly,” he said.
“This is no longer a disease of truck drivers as previously mentioned.”
He says the people of Kigali should take the lockdown as a solution because it will help keep an eye on the infected so that they too will be healed.
A recent survey found that in all cells in Kigali City, about 5% of all tests were infected with the virus.
The Minister of local Government Prof. Shyaka Anastase said the government is well aware that the lockdown measures are solution to the general public’s grievances as it is affecting many families because it is hurting the economy but it is not the government’s will.
Prof. Shyaka said, “Staying at home is not our desire as a government, but staying at home has come as a solution to the problem of high infections we have,”
“That’s why to move forward with the people of Kigali and all Rwandans, we must work together to maintain 60% of good results we have achieved while dealing with the pandemic in the last two weeks and add the remaining 40% in this week. ” He added
“The second thing we know that staying at home is not sweet, it’s a bitter remedy we know, so what life requires is we replace fun and walking with staying at home to find the lasting solution”
