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Kenya ‘exports’ three coronavirus cases to Rwanda


Rwanda’s Ministry of Health has confirmed 17 new coronavirus cases, three of which are of Kenyan nationals who travelled to the country recently, bringing the total number in the country to 36.

In a statement released Monday, March 23, 2020, the patients, who comprise five travellers from Dubai, three from Kenya, two from the US, and two from Qatar and India, have been isolated, as persons who came into contact with them are being traced.

The remaining one is the contact of a previously confirmed Covid-19 case who was identified through tracing.

According to the ministry, all travellers entered isolation between March 17-20 in designated locations and were tested.

According to a statement issued by the ministry on Monday, all patients remain in stable condition, isolated from other patients while people who came in contact have been traced for further management.

Rwanda is already on a countrywide lockdown which was imposed on Saturday, 21 March.

Following the declaration, only essential services are allowed to operate and the country’s borders have been closed to passenger traffic.

Only freight transporters are being allowed into and out of the country while returning nationals or legal citizens will also be allowed in but they must be subjected to a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Other measures include a temporary ban on non-essential travel between different cities and districts across the country, while all employees both in the public and private sectors will work from home.

The lockdown follows several other preventive measures whereby schools, church services, and masses, conferences and other events, have been postponed, temporarily closed or cancelled.

Employers have been directed to let their employees work from home. Kenya on Monday confirmed one more coronavirus case, bringing the total tally to 16 in the country.

According to Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, the latest case is a close contact of one of the eight newly reported cases.

The World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the global pandemic was clearly “accelerating”.

The number of coronavirus deaths surged past 16,100 on Monday, with over 361,500 infections in over 174 countries and territories, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.

Tedros said it took 67 days from the beginning of the outbreak in China in December for the virus to infect the first 100,000 people worldwide.

In comparison, it took 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases, he said.