March 14,2023 marks exactly three years when the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Rwanda.

This pandemic was a once-in-a-lifetime event that tested the limits of humanity.

Schools halted, large numbers of people hospitalized, jobs lost and now and then restrictions, including the ground-breaking lockdowns, became routine in the lives of Rwandans.

While many may want to forget the horrors wrought by the pandemic, health practitioners indicate the virus appears here to stay, along with the threat of a more dangerous version sweeping across the planet.

Though the pandemic still killing 900 to 1,000 people a day worldwide, the stealthy virus behind COVID-19 hasn't lost its punch but has been managed in Rwanda since the positivity rate currently stands at 0.1 percent.

Key initiatives put in place to keep the virus at bay

Rwanda has been hailed among countries that effectively managed to keep the virus at bay, and here are some of the strategies taken to counter the novel virus.

• The population was sensitized on the ways of transmission of COVID-19 and prevention measures through all communication platforms (Radio, Television, and social media)

• Emergency containment measures such as the closure of schools, public gatherings, and nationwide lockdowns to reduce community transmission immediately went into place.

• A joint COVID-19 Task force Command post which facilitated Multisectoral collaboration in the COVID-19 response was established
• There was also, an enhanced surveillance at the health facility level and at the community level
• Home-based care treatment for Mild to Moderate COVID-19 cases to reduce the burden on health facilities
• Enhanced surveillance and early detection of COVID-19 cases such as Mass testing in different communities that helped in Monitoring the trend of COVID-19 cases within communities.

• Innovation and use of Technology was a key investment: Robots were deployed at Kigali int’l airport and in Covid-19 treatment centers for temperature screening, taking vital signs, deliver video messages, deliver food and medication to patients.

Drones were used in community awareness; Bracelets used as tracker devices on vivid-19 patients in home based care; GPS tracking for cross border trucks used to monitor trucks stops at non designated locations;

Digital softwares like online covid-19 results and vaccination portals, WelTel application used to monitor status of positives patients in HBC by self-reporting their symptoms, passenger locator for, among others.

Some achievements registered

These initiatives did pay off, and Rwanda has managed to scale down the rates of deaths among other effects that resulted from the stealthy pandemic, some of which we can mention:

• Treatment centers specialized to deal with pandemics and outbreaks were set up, and those include Kibuye, Nyamata, and Kibungo that have a capacity of 128 beds.
• Construction of Oxygen plants in different hospitals countrywide such as Ruhengeri RH, Gisenyi DH, and Kibuye RH to improve oxygen therapy for COVID-19 severe admitted cases.
• Capacity building to health care providers where a total of 43 hospitals has focal persons (Doctors and Nurses) who have been trained on Test to Treat COVID-19 management.
• Enhanced COVID-19 vaccination countrywide where a total of 10,091,151 people have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and a total of 1,088,318 children between 5 to 11 have received 2 doses of vaccine.

As of early March 2023, Rwanda has recorded 133,172 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 1,468 deaths, reported to WHO.

As of the end of 2022, a total of 26,106,436 vaccine doses have been administered in the country.