{"id":15265,"date":"2020-03-27T22:34:44","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T22:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulkagame.com\/?p=15265"},"modified":"2020-03-29T03:37:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T03:37:14","slug":"president-kagames-message-on-the-coronavirus-pandemic-kigali-27-march-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/?p=15265","title":{"rendered":"President Kagame’s Message on the CoronaVirus Pandemic | Kigali, 27 March 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Banyarwanda, Baturarwanda,
\nGood evening to you all.<\/p>\n

I am glad to have this opportunity to address you, as we confront the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

The world is mobilizing to stop this disease, and since the first case was detected in Rwanda almost two weeks ago, everyone has\u00a0played their part and made a\u00a0contribution.<\/p>\n

\nI want to thank all of you for your understanding, cooperation and the sacrifices you are making.<\/p>\n

In particular, I want to thank those in the health sector, for the dedication they continue to demonstrate.\u00a0They are working day and night, to prevent new infections, to treat those affected, and keep our country safe.<\/p>\n

Today, we have 54\u00a0confirmed cases of coronavirus in our country.<\/p>\n

This number will rise as tracing continues, in order to detect, test and treat those who have been in contact with confirmed cases.<\/p>\n

It is the best way to assist those who may have been infected, and prevent them from infecting their families, friends, and others in our community.<\/p>\n

We made the difficult decision to stop commercial passenger flights, and restrict movement over land borders.<\/p>\n

This has helped to ensure that no new cases\u00a0are imported into Rwanda.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0suspended\u00a0internal transport to prevent the virus from spreading around the country.<\/p>\n

However, coronavirus is highly contagious, and there is not yet an adequate understanding of it.<\/p>\n

\n

It is our responsibility to ensure that the virus does not spread.<\/p>\n

This is why I want to call upon everyone to continue following the directives of the government, to remain steadfast no matter the difficulty in order to beat this virus once and for all, and\u00a0ensure we prevent the loss of many lives. The guidelines include the following:<\/p>\n

\n– Stay at home
\n– Keep a physical distance\u00a0between yourself and others, both when you go out and when you are at home
\n– Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently
\n– Contact the authorities if you experience any symptoms of the virus<\/p>\n

\nWe know that this is not an easy period for most Rwandans, whose livelihoods have been interrupted across the country.<\/p>\n

But we ask you to be patient. Although we are making good progress, we cannot afford to relax yet.<\/p>\n

The Government will continue to do everything possible, to support Rwandans through this challenging time.<\/p>\n

Measures have been taken, and more will be taken, to build the resilience of our private sector throughout this difficult period.<\/p>\n

\nRelevant institutions are working on a social protection plan, to support the most vulnerable in our community. We need to speed this up.<\/p>\n

We are also working in collaboration with our partners in the region and internationally, to manage this pandemic.<\/p>\n

I especially want to express our appreciation to all who have offered their support, I thank the World Health Organization, and in particular Dr Tedros and Jack Ma and his foundation. I also thank\u00a0all who have offered their support through the advice they have given us and the equipment they have donated.<\/p>\n

I would like to thank our Ministry of Health and other government institutions for the commendable job and commitment they continue to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0through the work of our\u00a0National Task Force\u00a0led by the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

As Rwandans, we have overcome many extraordinary challenges together.<\/p>\n

Our resilience and solidarity is needed now more than ever, to prevail in this struggle against coronavirus. And we have to win this fight.<\/p>\n

I take this opportunity to once again ask each one of you to play their role, in both action and\u00a0attitude.<\/p>\n

\nThe measures we have taken are working.<\/p>\n

What we do today, will determine how quickly we can defeat this pandemic, so that we can continue with our normal lives.<\/p>\n

May the peace of God be with\u00a0you all in these difficult times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Banyarwanda, Baturarwanda, Good evening to you all. I am glad to have this opportunity to address you, as we confront the coronavirus pandemic. The world is mobilizing to stop this disease, and since the first case was detected in Rwanda almost two weeks ago, everyone has\u00a0played their part and made a\u00a0contribution. I want to thank all of you for your understanding, cooperation and the sacrifices you are making. In particular, I want to thank those in the health sector, for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speech","post-has-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15267,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15265\/revisions\/15267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}