Wash your hands, wear your face mask and practice physical distancing. These COVID-19 safety measures by the World Health Organization (WHO) will probably go down in the World’s history as the most repeated and translated words of the year 2020. 

Since December 2019, COVID-19 has imposed itself onto the World forcing everyone to rethink the word normal. It was only a matter of time before Rwanda would get its share of cases. 

Maiduguri, 24 September, 2020 - As part of its health system strengthening in the insurgency-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in the north-east Nigeria, World Health organization is touching millions of lives by rehabilitating, reconstructing or equipping health facilities and building the capacities of national health work-force. 

Kampala, 24 September 2020: - For many health workers of Arua Regional Referral Hospital (ARRH), 24th April 2020 is a day they will always remember with some trepidation. On that day, the hospital received its first COVID-19 patient and the health workers were understandably scared.

With the country under total lockdown and news channels beaming with constant pictures of death and sickness from all over the world, it was now the turn for ARRH health workers to play their part in the enduring COVID-19 tragedy.

23 September 2020 — Forty-one (41) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 2273 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases to four thousand, seven hundred, and seventy-nine (4779). To date, two thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-five (2995) patients have recovered and been discharged, including four (4) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, seven hundred, and fifty-seven (1757) and twenty-seven (27) deaths. 

Abuja 22 September 2020 - “During a tuberculosis outreach in my community, one of the team members insisted I take a test as he said I already have symptoms. As I was about to undergo the test, the DSNOs suggested I also undergo a COVID-19 test because I was also displaying some of the symptoms” says 32 year old Janet Ishaya, reached through the TB intervention in Kaduna State.

In the context of the double burden of COVID-19 and Humanitarian Emergencies in the Sahel region, analysis of data from the official weekly telegram-letter (TLOH) of the Ministry of Health's showed an unusually high number of institutional maternal deaths reported in this region during the four weeks (Week 16 to Week 19) of the year 2020, compared to data from the same period in 2019.  

22 September 2020 — Sixteen (16) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 1631 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases to four thousand, seven hundred, and thirty-eight (4738). To date, two thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-one (2991) patients have recovered and been discharged, including eighteen (18) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, seven hundred, and twenty (1720) and twenty-seven (27) deaths.  The new death is a male Rwandan of 58 years old in Kigali.

Maiduguri, 23 September, 2020 -  The World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo has congratulated Borno, the last wild polio virus (WPV) sanctuary in Africa, for making Nigeria and Africa proud. 

The WR made the remark when he met Six-year old Modu Busami, the last case of WPV in Africa who hails from a security-compromised Monguno local government area (LGA) of Borno state. 

21 September 2020 — Eleven (11) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 1448 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases to four thousand, seven hundred, and twenty-two (4722). To date, two thousand, nine hundred, and seventy-three (2973) patients have recovered and been discharged, including twelve (12) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, seven hundred, and twenty-two (1722) and twenty-seven (27) deaths.  The new death is a male Rwandan of 58 years old in Kigali.