The cabinet on Monday, December 14, adopted a raft of new decisions designed to help contain Covid-19 infections, which have been on the rise in recent days.

From bringing forward curfew by three hours in the City of Musanze and one hour for the rest of the country and ordering public transport to carry a maximum of 50 per cent of passenger capacity and places of worship to accommodate 30 per cent of worshippers, and directing gym and swimming pool closures and reduction in the number of mourners during burials and vigils, the measures will remain in force through the early days of the New Year.

On December 22, the curfew start time will come forward by another hour (at 8p.m) until January 4, 2021 across the country (with the expectation of Musanze city) in a move seen as designed to prevent irresponsible festive celebrations.

Domestic sporting competitions, weddings and other social gatherings were also suspended, while conference participants will be required to take Covid-19 tests beforehand and not exceed 30 per cent of venue capacity.

The New Times’ Bertrand Byishimo spoke to different people about their reactions to these new measures:

Luc Piercey, a hotel proprietor

Some of the new measures will obviously affect us negatively as our working hours have been reduced and we will be forced to cut jobs; but we will also try to be more efficient. However, looking at the recent trend of infections, the measures were necessary. You can understand why government took these decisions.

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Darlie Cyuzuzo, a Christian

I am okay with everything, (holding) single church service in a week and so on, but the problem will be on Christmas Day. Since we are now required to fellowship not more than once a week I imagine we will not be allowed to pray on Christmas Day since it will fall on a Friday. I think that’s a problem for believers.

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Theogene Nzabamwita, a cab driver

Many people may not have liked some of the decisions but the situation was getting out of hand and called for tough measures. Many people were becoming complacent and abandoning preventive guidelines. Of course, we will be negatively affected, particularly income-wise, but instead of celebrating today and suffer the next day, you are better off sacrificing a few things today for a better tomorrow.

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Aline Nyirabageni, a student in Musanze city

It looks like our city is in a serious situation. It’s bad that even some of the healthcare workers have been infected, we need to be extra vigilant. It’s unfortunate that we violate rules that are designed to protect us. I have seen people spend a night at the stadium for violating curfew rules. We need to respect these guidelines if we are to return to normality, behaving otherwise will only hurt us.

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Marie-Louise Dushime, a gas station attendant  

Covid-19 preventive measures are necessary but maybe the problem is how we do it. For instance, it’s unfair to stop weddings all of a sudden, without warning. People who were in the final preparations for their weddings are really disappointed; otherwise, these measures are in our best interest.

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Theo Niyishobora, a taxi-moto rider

Of course, the guidelines are tough but we are used to this. If we were able to adapt to the 7p.m curfew time a while back, I don’t think we can fail to adapt to 9p.m or 8p.m.

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Solange Mukamwiza, a farmer

The government is working on behalf of the people, which means that what they are doing is in our best interests. However, I think some of the measures were implemented abruptly and it disrupted many people’s plans.

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Irenee Iradukunda, a mechanic

We are aware of the pandemic and such measures were expected. In fact, this is not so challenging compared to the situation we endured during the lockdown days. What may happen is probably some employers reducing the salary of employees because of less working hours. We could also see some traffic jams related to the curfew hours.

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Christine Mukandamage, a salon owner

People need to understand and respect the guidelines for the common good. As for us, we will do our best to comply and encourage our clients to adjust on time to avoid violating curfew rules. But these measures had to be implemented if we were to contain the situation with regard to Covid-19.