By CGTN Africa
The 21-day lockdown that was recently imposed on Kigali has had a tremendous impact, reducing new Covid-19 cases in the city by 72 percent, this is according to the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) Director-General.
On Monday, February 8, the lockdown was lifted, allowing people to go on with their work – but still under strict preventive measures like curfew, social distancing, washing hands and wearing masks.
“The impact of the 21-day lockdown on Covid-19 spread in the City of Kigali is remarkable,” Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, the Director-General of RBC posted on his Twitter account.
The lockdown measures which were announced on January 18, were meant to curb the high number of new infections that were being recorded in the city, especially between late December 2020 and January 2021.
Statistics by medics indicate that by around mid-January, Kigali was accounting for about 60 percent of all new Covid-19 recorded in the country since New Year’s Day.
During the 21-days of the lockdown, public transport was suspended in the city, non-essential businesses halted, and citizens were strongly urged to stay at home
In the last ten days, Kigali has recorded 609 new cases out of the 1,837 recorded all over the country in the same period of time.
Meanwhile, though the lockdown was lifted, public offices still remain closed in Kigali as the fight against the spread of the virus goes on.
