This archive report was first published on 24 July 2021.
As Rwanda's 10-day lockdown nears its end on July 26, the government has initiated a second mass testing exercise in Kigali to assess the impact of the lockdown on Covid-19 prevalence.
According to the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, the mass testing aims to determine the prevalence of Covid-19 in Rwanda, providing a before and after lockdown picture of the pandemic.
The second mass testing, which began on July 23, targets 40 cells with the highest positivity rate in Kigali, with over 5 percent of residents testing positive. The exercise aims to test 15 percent of the adult population in these targeted cells.
Throughout the lockdown, Rwanda has increased daily Covid-19 testing from an average of 5,000 tests to 8,000-22,000 tests per day, excluding mass testing. The positivity rate during the lockdown has ranged from 3-10 percent.
As of July 22, the national toll stood at 61,371, with 60 percent of infections attributed to the Delta Variant. The number of recoveries has been consistently between 800 and 1,000 per day, with 71 percent of total cases recovered so far.
Despite the lockdown and mass testing, the number of infections recorded daily remains persistently high. Minister of Health Daniel Ngamije stated that the lockdown was imposed as a last resort to curb infections, and its duration will depend on its effectiveness.
