The positivity rate from the ongoing Covid-19 screening that is being done at the cell level in the city of Kigali is 4 per cent, according to the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC).

Since Saturday, January 23, RBC in partnership with the City of Kigali kicked off a random testing exercise targeting to test 125 people in each cell in Kigali.

Kigali is made up of 161 cells, meaning that up to 20,125 people have to be tested during the campaign.

By January 27, with about five days of testing, RBC said almost 15,000 people have been screened, and of them, 629 were positive of the virus.

This represents about 4 per cent positivity rate among those that were tested.

Speaking to The New Times, Dr Edson Rwagasore, the Division Manager for Public Health Surveillance and Emergency Preparedness and Response at RBC said that the high number of tests conducted during the campaign in Kigali had a big effect on the increase of the positive cases that have been recorded recently.

From January 24 to 27, Kigali recorded 1,000 cases in only four days. This includes Tuesday, January 26, where the city registered a staggering 440 new cases as the country, in general, hit its highest ever confirmed daily Covid-19 infections of 574.

"The current increase in (positive) cases is because we are now testing more and doing contact tracing,” said Rwagasore.

"That is why at one point (January 26), we recorded more than 500 cases in a single day. When you look at the positivity rate from the samples taken, it was 4 per cent, because the over 500 cases were detected out of a big number of samples (10,407),” he added.

The testing services that are being offered at grass root level service during the campaign are free of charge, and eligible for certain groups of people that are at higher risk of Covid-19 complications.

These include people who are above 70 years of age, those with chronic diseases.

It also targets to screen people who are contacts of already Covid-19 confirmed cases.

The drive is expected to be concluded on Sunday, January 31, but Dr. Rwagasore says it may is not its end, since RBC wants to make it a regular activity during given periods of time.

Meanwhile, RBC, in partnership with the City of Kigali, has also embarked on a free Covid-19 testing exercise targeting people aged 25 and above in the City of Kigali.

This as well is being held at cell level starting Thursday, January 28.

It targets to screen at least 100 people of the specified age in each of the 161 cells that make up the City of Kigali.