Rwanda on Saturday, July 18 recorded her fifth Covid-19 death. The deceased was an 88-year-old woman. “Condolences to the family of the 88-year-old woman who passed away in Nyamasheke,” the Ministry of Health said in its daily update on the pandemic. Although the Ministry did not provide more details on the fatality, it has been proven that elderly people are more vulnerable when it comes to Covid-19 due to how weak their immune systems are vis-à-vis the Virus. The fourth person to succumb to this pandemic in the country was 78 years old. The other three deaths included a truck driver who lived in a neighbouring country and only returned to Rwanda in critical condition before passing away. The second and third deaths were armed personnel serving in Rwandan peacekeeping contingents abroad and they include a 24-year-old policewoman and a Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) officer, who was 51 and had an underlying medical condition, according to the health ministry. Meanwhile, on Saturday, Rwanda also reported 54 new Covid-19 cases, whereby 35 were reported from Nyamasheke district in cells that were recently put under lockdown, 9 detected in Rusizi district, 7 got in Kigali and three confirmed in Kirehe district. The country also recorded 8 recoveries from 3,232 sample tests taken in the last 24 hours. In total, Rwanda has reported 1,539 cases since mid-March, of whom 819 have recovered.
