Effective Saturday July 17 the City of Kigali and eight other districts will be placed under a 10-day lockdown. As a result of the new restriction, various government institutions have issued new guidelines. Here are 5 important things you should know before ahead of the lockdown 1. Facilitation for candidates to do national exams National examinations will still go on during the lockdown. Ordinary Level examinations, Advanced Level and TVET theory national examinations will start on July 20 and end on July 27 followed by Advanced Level Science practical examinations, which will start on July 28 and end on July 30. The government has made travel arrangements for day scholar candidates. In order to facilitate students to do their exams smoothly, public transport buses and school buses that will be used to transport student candidates to and from examination centres will be given movement clearance by national Rwanda National Police through the ministry of education. This is according to a statement signed by Valentine Uwamariya, the Minister for Education. The movement permit should be requested via mc@mineduc.gov.rw by July 18, the ministry stated. The parents who wish to use their own transport means to take their children to examination centres, the ministry said, should do so within recommended hours but with police clearance. “ The hours to transport students to the examination centres start from 5:30 am to 9:30 am while transporting them back to home start from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm,” reads the announcement. The candidates have been requested to reach examination centres not later than 9:00 am on Monday so as to receive the agenda and examination guidelines. 2. What firms will be operational during lockdown According to a statement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, essential services that will remain in operation include markets and shops selling foodstuffs, butchers, milk and dairy product shops, essential banking and other financial services and insurance services. Others are mobile money services, waste collection and other essential sanitary services, customs and taxations services, petroleum products trading and telecommunication services. The Minister of Trade and Industry Beata Habyarimana said that for companies and factories to be allowed to operate, they will be required to apply for working permits. 3. How to get movement clearances Rwanda National Police spokesperson, Commissioner of Police (CP) John Bosco Kabera shed more light on what to do; persons who have an emergency, grocery shopping, medical care and other things may request movement clearance through https://www.mc.gov.rw/or dial *127# and follow instructions. Those who want to go for burial should present the death certificate. Those who have a Doctors appointment should present an appointment. People who have issues related to Agriculture request movement clearance through the Ministry of Agriculture. People who have issues related to infrastructures request their movement clearance through the Ministry of Infrastructure. Those with issues related to trade request movement clearance through the Ministry of Trade. “This clearance might take time because we first have to check how genuine these reasons are, some people ask for movement when they are going to do other things instead of what they asked for, and we will not allow these things to keep happening,” he said. 4. The food relief programme Up to 210,000 vulnerable households are set to benefit from the government food relief programme, the Minister of Local Government Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi announced during a post-cabinet meeting press conference. The initiative to distribute food relief during the lockdown is being spearheaded by the government with support from religious organisations in the country. The eligible households are vulnerable households and vulnerable residents found to be Covid-19 positive and are under home-based care, the food supplies will include nutritious food supplies such as maize flour, beans, and rice. The supplies will be delivered to the households by youth volunteers and local leaders so the movements can be limited. 5. How to take care of home-based patients while staying safe During the lockdown, Covid-19 patients can use different treatment approaches that have been put into place by Rwanda Biomedical Centre which will facilitate a number of patients to be treated in their homes. According to Dr. Menelas Nkeshimana, the Team Lead for Covid-19 Case Management at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, all home-based care patients should always follow guidelines, put on masks at home, isolate themselves and open windows, doors when at home. “Every household should have the contacts of their Community Health Worker, each village has four, in this lockdown everyone should have their contacts, so they can help in case of an emergency not only to these patients but also someone else in the house because they can provide medical help fast,” he said.
