Physical concerts, festivals and exhibitions are set to return in the country, after almost one and half years of restriction due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is one of the resolutions made by a cabinet meeting that was chaired by President Paul Kagame on Wednesday, September 1, to among others, review the measures in place to combat the pandemic.

According to a communique issued by the Prime Minister's Office, such events will be open for people who have been vaccinated.

"Concerts, festivals, exhibitions etc shall resume gradually for vaccinated and tested participants," the communique reads in part, adding that Rwanda Development Board (RDB) will provide detailed guidelines in this regard.

Since the beginning of 2020, physical concerts and other similar gatherings have been on hold owing to their high potential in spreading the virus.

However, with the growing number of vaccinated people and the reducing number of daily infections, government has decided to begin opening up, albeit with caution.

Curfew eased  

In other changes made by the cabinet, curfew hours in Kigali were reduced, allowing people to make unrestricted movements from 4am to 10pm, while businesses will be open until 9pm.

However, government issued tighter measures for the districts of Burera, Gicumbi, Kirehe, Ngoma, Nyagatare, Nyamasheke, Nyaruguru, and Rwamagana, since they have high Covid-19 incidence.

For these districts, curfew will apply between 4am and  8pm, while businesses must close by 7pm.

For the remaining district, curfew will begin at 9pm. 

The new measures will take effect nationwide starting from September 2 to 22. 

Since last month, government intensified vaccination efforts starting from Kigali, where a new campaign was launched targeting people aged 18 and above.

In an interview at the launch of the campaign, Pudence Rubingisa, the city mayor said that as more people get vaccinated, the possibility of opening up the city for more services increases,

"A large number of people in Kigali live by the earnings they make on a daily basis, and that is why the previous lockdowns really hurt us. We hope that if the vaccination campaign goes well, it will give us opportunity to try to go back to our normal life, and we hope that our economy will rise again,” he said.

Government, through the same communique issued on Wednesday  continued to urge citizens towards observing preventive measures,

"Citizens are reminded of the critical importance of complying with health measures including physical distancing, properly wearing faces masks, and hand hygiene. Penalties will be applied for non-compliance," it read.