Rwanda is to build COVID-19 test and treatment capacity in all provinces by setting up more test laboratories and treatment centers, an official said Friday.
“Currently, we have six COVID-19 laboratories. Besides the national laboratory in Kigali (the capital city of Rwanda), three others are in eastern Rwanda and two were recently set up in Rusizi and Rubavu districts in western Rwanda,” Sabin Nsanzimana, director general of Rwanda Biomedical Center, said in a news program of Radio Rwanda.
The target of the health ministry, which the center is affiliated to, is to build COVID-19 test capacity in each province of the country, said Nsanzimana, adding that plans are underway to set up laboratories in the remaining Southern and Northern provinces this month.
The ministry has also scaled up treatment capacity, he said. “Even when we don’t have patients in intensive care, we are ready to handle in case of need.”
The ministry’s plan is to now build coronavirus treatment capacity in every province so that each province has a treatment center, he said.
Once all provinces get treatment capacity, the patients will be treated in the province where they stay, rather than to be transferred to Kigali, he said.
Rwanda on Thursday reported 16 new cases and 13 recoveries, bringing the total confirmed cases to 1,210 and total recoveries to 623. The country so far has registered three deaths.
