Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) has established a new Covid-19 testing laboratory in Rubavu district, Western Province to help contain the pandemic in the area.

According to RBC, the test lab, which was launched on Monday, July 6, has the capacity of running 400 Covid-19 samples per day.

"After Rusizi district, another Covid-19 testing lab is fully set up in Rubavu district, Gisenyi District Hospital, with capacity to run 400 samples/day,” Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, Director-General of RBC tweeted.

Nsanzimana added that: "The new lab will also serve neighboring districts in Western Province.”

This is the second Covid-19 testing lab established in Western Province after the recent one set up in Rusizi District with the capacity of running 500 samples a day.

So far there are six satellite labs strategically located at Covid-19 hotspot areas of the country; in Kirehe district, Rubavu district, Rwamagana district, Nyagatare district, Rusizi district and the main one at the National Reference Laboratory in Kigali.

Before decentralizing Covid-19 testing exercise, all conducted sample tests would be brought to Kigali at National Reference Laboratory for results, which would delay the process of generating results for patients to ensure timely intervention.

Update on the pandemic in country

Rwanda so far has a total of 1,113 confirmed cases of whom 575 have recovered.

Since Mid-march when Covid-19 was first confirmed in the country, Rwanda recorded three deaths.

In a bid to contain the pandemic, the country has put much efforts in increasing the number of tests whereby in addition to setting up testing labs in different locations, the country recently initiated an exercise of randomly testing people in the City of Kigali and its entry points.