President Paul speaking to the staff of the task force
President Paul Kagame on Easter Sunday paid a much needed morale boosting visit to the COVID-19 Command Post located at the Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village (KCEV)- where he interacted with the team of frontline staff working around the clock to stop the spread of New Coronavirus.
The Head of State visited the centre which is located at the former Camp Kigali where a command post bringing together close to 400 professionals from different sectors to coordinate activities aimed at ending the spread of #COVID19 operates from.
He thanked all the people who have been working day and night to avert the virus which continues to claim many lives across the globe, commending their sacrifices and efforts as the country works to minimise the number of infections.
“I am here to thank you for your commitment and dedication. You are serving selflessly, even with the knowledge that the work you are doing could have consequences on your health,”
“You agreed to do this thinking of other Rwandans and the country. I can’t thank you enough. I know that you are doing this out of selflessness, love of your country and with professionalism. All of this makes me grateful to each of you,” President Kagame said.
The Head of State recognised the work of the team at KCEV, which is mainly made up of teams of health professionals, specialists and staff of all institutions involved in the fight to flatten the curve.
“I have seen all the work that you do and where we stand today in terms of numbers of #COVID19 cases. There is no way we could have made this progress if people did not respect the lockdown,”
“For now, the life of the country has to be on hold but there is hope that things will return to normal. And that hope coming true is founded on you and how you do your work,” President Kagame said.
President Kagame said that the government will keep doing everything it can to support them, so Rwandans can return to their normal lives and wished them a happy Easter.
“There will be a time to celebrate and thank you properly when this is all over,” President Kagame told the frontline workers.
President Kagame later took to Twitter to share information about the visit to the COVID-19 Command Post and expressed his gratitude to the professionals on the frontline doing all the hard work.
“Visited the #COVID19 Command Post where our professionals are working hard to end the spread of the virus and for Rwandans to return to our normal lives. We thank each member of the team and all health workers across the country for your selfless service to your nation,” he tweeted.
In line with the centre, the Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana told KT Press that Rwanda’s competence to test and deal with New Coronavirus has improved in recent weeks, moving from testing between 400 and 500 samples daily to 800-1000 samples a day.
“Our competence is high in terms of personnel and equipment technology and staff. We brought new machines this week and our laboratory was recently accredited. We are one of the few countries to have that kind of lab,” Dr. Nsanzimana said, adding that another 60 people recently completed training in handling the pandemic.
