Rwanda has received shipment of Covid19 personal protection equipment from the Arab Republic of Egypt that will be used by front line health workers in treatment of coronavirus cases in key health facilities.
The donation worth $150,000 was handed over this morning at Kigali international airport (KIA) by the Egyptian envoy to Rwanda, Ambassador Ahmed El Ansary and received by Rwanda’s minister of health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije.
The donation is part of Egypt’s $4million commitment to support the African Union (AU) member states in fight against the coronavirus.
Dr. Ngamije said that the support will enable Rwanda to minimize Covid-19 infections among medics, reduce infections and related deaths among patients in health facilities outside of Kigali city.
“There is new hope for a Covid-19 vaccine that will be authorized in the next three months, however we still need both prevention and treatment, and that is why such support is needed for us to ensure that the virus is contained especially for persons at risk of infections,” Ngamije said.
Since March 14, Rwanda has 19 confirmed Covid-19 related deaths, mainly for persons with other coronial and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.
As of Sunday, 4399 cases had been confirmed positive out of 443374 tests. The country has now registered 2271 recoveries (51%) and 2120 active cases.
On behalf of Egypt, Ambassador El Ansary said that this donation is part of their in-kind support in the health sector which is one of the areas of cooperation between the two countries with some major projects in the pipeline.
“We are happy with the cooperation in the health sector, and in the distant future we are planning to reveal a landmark project (on heart surgery) which I don’t want to reveal now but when time comes,” El Ansary said.
Shakira Umutoni, the Director General for Africa, at Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on behalf of government that the donation is an endorsement of cooperation between the two countries which has been fruitful in many areas especially health and security.
