On Sunday, March 14, Rwanda completed one tumultuous year battling the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Currently, the virus outbreak is increasingly under control in most parts of the country, according to the daily new infections data.

Rwanda reported the first case on March 14, 2020, with the first patient having had a travel history to Mumbai, India.  This triggered a wave of actions, including total lockdowns, and border closures  as the country tirelessly worked to contain the virus.

As of Sunday, March 14, 2021, the country had reported a total of 274 Covid-19 related deaths among the 20,143 cases that had been reported so far. And, for more than a month now, new daily infections have dropped to less than 150.

However, basing on the uncertainty of the evolution of the pandemic, medics who talked to The New Times called for heightened collaboration, as part of the  continued efforts to strengthen the fight against the pandemic.

"At the onset of the pandemic, there was a lot of misinformation, and this contributed to complacency,” said Dr Fabrice Iradukunda in an exclusive interview with The New Times on Sunday.

A deserted Kigali’s main bus terminal during the total lockdown on April 13, 2020. / Photo: Dan Nsengiyumva

Iradukunda was part of the response team that was deployed to Rusizi last year, where at the time, the virus was at its peak in the region.

"At the time we had people telling the youth that they would not catch the virus, something that proved possible as days went by, but today we see more and more people consuming science-based information and this has contributed to the fight against the pandemic,” he added.

Going forward, Iradukunda noted that it is critical that people, especially the youth learn from the challenges experienced during the previous year.

"We lost a number of young people due to this pandemic, and this is something that people especially the youth should learn from.”

Key takeaways

On a positive note, the medic noted that the pandemic has built the resilience of the country’s health care sector against both epidemics and pandemics.

"One of the other lessons this pandemic has taught us is to always be prepared.”

Consequently, he asserted that the battle against the pandemic should not be left for a particular institution or group of people, rather, he said that it needed a collaborative effort from the public.

"We saw people during the lockdown giving food relief to others they do not know.  This is an example of the unity that we need when the country is facing such a challenge. Everyone should contribute in their capacity to see that they can help the vulnerable.”

Iradukunda, shares similar sentiments with Stella Yasin Igihozo, a youth from Nyarugenge District who for the past one year has been working among youth volunteers, who help enforce measures to contain the virus in communities.

"From our perspective, it is nearly impossible to think that the pandemic can be fought without everybody’s support. We need the public mostly, our partners, the local government and the national police.”

Igihozo, a graduate from the Davis College Akillah Campus is one of the 380,600 young people who have served in the country as volunteers since 2012.

During the pandemic, the youth were at the forefront of enforcing Covid-19 preventive measures across the country.

"Today, those who don’t want to observe the Covid-19 preventative measures are ‘rebellious’ because we believe that there has been enough work done in regards to spreading information around the country,” she added.

Vaccinations are offering hope

"It has been a year since the first person was infected with coronavirus in Rwanda. We still have a long way to go, we learnt a lot while dealing with the pandemic.” Sabin Nsanzimana, Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre said in a tweet on Sunday.

He added, "Our country responded with good governance, faith in skilled people, research and partnerships which all led us to the national vaccination programme.”

According to the Ministry of Health, in just 10 days since Rwanda received her first vaccine doses from the Covax facility, 258,000 people have received the jab - about 2 percent of the population.