The United States, Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa – in that order – have the highest cases of the Coronavirus. According to the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Systems Science and Engineering, the five economic and political powerhouses account to 57.4 per cent of the world’s 16.7 million cases. China on the other hand, the country where the virus was first discovered and caused widespread deaths does not even feature among the top 30. A lot of conspiracy theories have passed under the bridge as to how China managed to contain the outbreak. What is certain is that China’s approach of contact-tracing and widespread testing played a major part. Rwanda is following a similar path and a few days ago, the World Health Organisation listed it among the few countries that had averted a large scale Covid-19 outbreak. The others are New Zealand, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. That followed another international vote of confidence on the country’s fight against the virus. Just as Rwanda announced the reopening of its tourism sector, it became one of the few tourism destinations to receive the very first Safe Travels stamp from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). All the above would not have been achieved had the population not cooperated with authorities in the fight against Covid-19. There were many complaints at the beginning when stringent measures were first announced, but the government stood its ground. Hers was not about dangerous short-term gains that had the capacity to accelerate the spread of the virus, but a safer approach with higher gains. The sacrifice was necessary, now people are reaping the benefits.
