The Ministry of Health has assured the general public that Rwanda is on red alert to tackle Ebola from spreading in the country, after a number of cases were reported in a neighbouring country. This comes a week after the World Health Organisation confirmed an Ebola outbreak in different parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In an interview with The New Times on Monday, Dr. Diane Gashumba, the Minister for Health said no signs of Ebola have so far been detected on Rwandan soil and that the ministry is working with different stakeholders to ensure citizens are protected from the outbreak. “We are well aware of the outbreak in some parts of our neighbours, as the World Health Organisation reported. We are glad that the outbreak is far from our borders but we are trying to work with different partners to fight it earlier before it spread to our country. She added: “The government always has preventive measures in place to fight different epidemic diseases, Ebola inclusive, in partnership with the permanent emergency rescue team,” she said. According to the minister, it is everyone’s responsibility to help fight such diseases by avoiding different areas where the outbreak has been identified, washing hands with clean water and soap, and initiating in quick medical tests whenever they feel any sign linked to Ebola in their body. Signs of Ebola include fever, headache, feeling the pain in different parts of the body, weak body, vomiting excessively and bleeding from any of the body holes. Gashumba revealed there is a constant screening system at Kigali International Airport to track the outbreak from people coming from abroad to make sure the disease does not spread in the country while more operations are intensively being done on the country’s borders. Earlier last week, World Health Organization (WHO) reported 32 suspected, probable or confirmed cases of the disease in Congo since April 4, including 18 deaths while a new suspected case was reported on Friday.
