Coronavirus: Rwanda forced to extend duration of lockdown

Rwandans would have to contend with another fortnight of a state of emergency lockdown after the government decided to extend an earlier lockdown that would have ended on April 5.

The extension means Rwanda will be under lockdown until April 19.

According to a report by CNBC Africa, the decision was reached at an extraordinary cabinet meeting that was conducted over a video conference call.

The new lockdown will be in the character of the one decreed on March 21. Private firms, schools and places of worship are all expected to remain closed.

Human movement has been restricted to essential service workers and government healthcare attendants. Rwanda’s coronavirus-enforced lockdown has gone anything but smooth so far.

Last week, police shot and killed two individuals who broke lockdown orders as part of the control of the spread of coronavirus.

Bloomberg News reported that the two 20-something-year-olds “attempted to tussle with officers.” The report said the incident was confirmed via phone call to Rwanda’s national police spokesperson, John Bosco Kabera.

In that same week, another man in the country who had breached the government’s instruction to stay at home during the nationwide lockdown to go fishing was “killed and eaten” by a crocodile.

Alice Kayitesi, the mayor of the southern Kamonyi district, confirmed the tragic incident which occurred in the Nyabarongo River. The victim’s name and age have not been made public yet.

Fear has gripped the country’s poor who wonder where the next meal might come from when they are not able to work. But the government has vouched to lend its support to the people having a hard time securing food during the lockdown.

Currently, Rwanda has more than 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19.