The Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) has said that it is still early for Rwanda to lift the mandatory wearing of a facemask in public places, despite the significant decline in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

As of now, the positivity rate in the country has been below 0.5 percent in the past month with not more than 20 cases reported every day. This occurrence has been attributed to Rwandans opting to be vaccinated.

Currently, over 60 percent of the Rwandan population has been fully vaccinated hence WHO commended the country for its tremendous work ethic.

Several countries, including neighboring Kenya, recently waived the mandatory use of facemask owing to the decline of cases but speaking to The New Times, Prof Claude Mambo Muvunyi, said that different countries adjust measures depending on their situation vis-à-vis the pandemic.

"This is a gradual process and it takes time to enforce such a measure,” he said.

He said that after the country lifted the curfew earlier this month, this will give the government time to monitor the situation in the country and discuss as well as reassess the systems to know which measures will continue to be put in place in order to monitor the situation in the country.

He however hinted at the possibility of Rwanda in the future lifting this measure on outdoor spaces following the success of countries such as the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom among others who lifted the measure on wearing masks early this year.

Muvunyi however cautioned that many of the countries that have eased the Covid-19 measures are now suffering since their Covid-19 cases are now rising and this has forced some of the countries to go back to lockdown.

This is something that Rwanda does not want to go back to since the opening of the country has boosted the country’s economy, he said.

Countries worldwide are starting to lift restrictions that were first imposed in 2020 to slow the spread of COVID-19 including rules that governed travel, socializing, mask-wearing and self-isolation.

In the United Kingdom, for example, all legal restrictions related to Covid-19, including required masking in public and self-isolation following a positive test, are being scrapped.

Other nations including Poland, Slovakia, and Iceland have removed the requirement to wear masks outdoors in public and relaxed rules on gatherings, including reopening nightclubs and lifting capacity limits.

These changes are prompting mixed reactions among scientists. According to scientists masks are a form of "source control”. This means they reduce the number of infectious particles at the source – that is, the person who is infected.

Why the mask?

According to the WHO, masks lower the number of viral particles in the air around someone’s face by trapping respiratory droplets and preventing airborne viral particles from traveling very far.

So if an infected person wears a mask, they will spread fewer viral particles around than someone who isn’t wearing a mask.

And if a contact also wears a mask, their chances of becoming infected are lower too, because the mask acts as a filter that lets air through but blocks a large amount of infectious viral particles from being inhaled (how much depends on the type of mask).

The logic is simple and backed up by research: if there is less of the virus being spread from person to person, the chances of getting infected are lower because it’s all about the dose. Hence the scientists argue it is too early to open up and lift the mandatory mask mandate.

Following the outbreak of Covid-19 across the globe in early 2020, countries introduced the mandatory wearing of face masks as a preventive measure including Rwanda through the Ministry of Health on April 18.

The government had previously called on citizens to leave masks for Covid-19 patients as well as health practitioners directly interacting with the patients but this directive was later revised on WHO recommendation and the mask mandate was made compulsory for everyone.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the total cases reported in the country are 129,647, deaths 1458, and recovered 45,522.