Rwanda has recorded its 5th New Coronavirus death after an 88-year old woman in the Western Province district of Nyamasheke succumbed to the virus, the Ministry of Heath confirmed on Saturday.
The district, which lies along the shores of Lake Kivu and shares borders with Rusizi district, has become a new hotspot for new infections with 35 of the 54 new cases registered on Saturday appearing in the district.
Saturday saw a spike in numbers, the country having registered only 12 cases on Friday. The Ministry of Health reported that the new cases in Nyamasheke were recorded in cells which are still under lockdown. Rusizi registered 9 case, Kigali, 7 and Kirehe district 3.
The Ministry condoled the family of the deceased’s family but did not provide any names or whether she had other underlying conditions. The 4th death was recorded on July 11 – 78-year old man while the 3rd victim was reported on July 1 -a 52 years old Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) officer who got COVID-19 serving abroad and had an underlying condition.
The first victim, 65 years old truck driver was confirmed on May 30 and, the following week – June 3rd, the second death was recorded. It was a 24-year old policewoman who was serving abroad where she fell ill with COVID-19 and was repatriated home in critical condition for intensive care.
A total of 3,232 tests were conducted over the last 24 hours returning 54 positive cases. Fewer recoveries, 8 in total, were registered. So far total cases recorded in Rwanda are 1,539, of which 819 have recovered. Active cases are 715.
Rwanda has shifted focus to district along the Kivu Belt axis, bordering Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) which are seemingly registering more cases than any other districts.
Rwanda has been slowly reopening key services, the latest being places of worship which have been given a go ahead to reopen upon approval by local authorities, while airports are expected to reopen on August 1.
