Government orders closure of universities for two weeks

Rwanda’s government on Saturday 14 March ordered the closure of all universities and higher learning institutions for an initial period of two weeks in efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus after the Ministry of Health confirmed the first case of coronavirus.

Following the confirmation of the first case – an Indian national who flew to Rwanda from Mumbai – the Ministry of Health issued another statement to say it had carried out an assessment and halting courses at universities was one of measures to be observed for an initial period of two weeks to strengthen the country’s ability to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

“Schools and higher education institutions (both public and private) shall close on Monday 16 March 2020,” reads the statement, a copy of which was seen by University World News.

The University of Rwanda, the largest university which brings together six colleges, has announced that all students are to vacate campuses by 5pm on Monday, 16 March. International students were to wait for further instructions, it said.

All students were encouraged to use online resources and the staff should report to work every day. Line managers would decide whether staff can work from home, it said.

Early on Saturday, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame urged all citizens to stay calm, avoid panicking, uphold discipline and focus on effective measures to keep everyone safe.

“As always, we will overcome these difficult times through solidarity and working together. This will require the discipline Rwandans have always shown in confronting challenges and getting good results,” he said on his personal Twitter handle, while also sending condolences to those countries affected by the virus.

The Ministry of Health and other ministries have called on citizens to observe frequent handwashing, avoid handshakes and keep distances of at least one metre from people.

Rwanda has also stepped up its preparedness for the novel coronavirus by setting up a test facility at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre's national reference laboratory in Kigali. The laboratory can provide results of suspected cases of coronavirus infection within three hours.