The Ministry of Health on Wednesday, July 1, announced the death of a 51-year-old Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) officer who succumbed to Covid-19, becoming the third person to die from this pandemic in Rwanda.

According to a statement from the ministry, the deceased had an underlying condition.

"The new death is a 51 year-old RDF officer who got Covid-19 serving abroad and had an underlying condition,” reads a statement by the Ministry of Health.

Previous fatalities were of a 65-year-old truck driver whom the ministry said had returned to Rwanda in critical condition, from a neighboring country where he was residing, and the other one being a 24 year-old policewoman who was serving abroad and had been repatriated in critical condition too.

Meanwhile, on the same day Rwanda confirmed 17 new cases of the pandemic and 33 recoveries.

Of the new cases, according to the Ministry, seven were from Kigali, six from Ngoma District, two from Rubavu district and two others detected in Rusizi district.

The latest update was obtained from 3,961 sample tests taken in the last 24 hours. In total, the country has carried out 147, 904 sample tests and the number of tests is expected to continue increasing.

For instance, on Wednesday, Rwanda Biomedical Centre announced plans to start a new random Covid-19 testing programme on the streets of Kigali from Thursday, July 2.

The move launched in Kigali and its entry points is in bid to analyze the status of the Covid-19 pandemic in Kigali and take appropriate measures after the survey.