Rwanda and Malawi Close Schools as COVID-19 Cases Escalate

Since the emergence of COVID-19, life has not been the same. Crippled economies, food crises, and increased death rates are some of the impacts countries have felt. Even though the world is slowly returning to normalcy, the situation with COVID-19 is not any better. Last year, many thought that the virus was slowly vanishing but was perplexed waking up to its new variations. Nevertheless, states have started adopting the administration of coronavirus vaccines. Rwanda and Malawi’s situation is not any different, as they have recorded spikes in new COVID-19 cases.

COVID-19 in Rwanda

On Monday, Rwandese authorities announced the closure of nurseries and schools in the country’s capital. This comes up as the Education sector in the country started picking up. The capital city is prone to more attacks by the virus. As such, the Rwandan government considered it wise to close schools there. Nevertheless, the Education Minister stated that schools in other regions of the country would also close if the number of cases continued to surge.

Indeed, the closure will impact most students as the schools reopened recently after eight months of being non-operational. Meanwhile, the country has confirmed more positive coronavirus cases. Labs have revealed over 11000 coronavirus cases and 142 deaths.

COVID-19 in Malawi

Similar to Rwanda, COVID-19 cases are also escalating in Malawi. The Malawian government announced that schools in the country would shut down for at least 15 days before resuming. Bars would also close by 8 pm. The resurgence of the COVID-19 cases shocked Malawians as they didn’t expect it to happen so soon. For two months, Malawi had not reported any coronavirus cases. As such, it’s obvious they thought they had control over the virus. Their government has, however, reinforced stringent measures as they await vaccines.

The state has confirmed over 12000 cases and 300 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. According to Medical personnel in the country, a third of the total deaths occurred in the past sixteen days. Malawi’s government has taken to protect its health officials, who are front liners in curbing the virus. They allocated about $2 million to the health sectors so that all the health care officials have proper protective equipment.

COVID-19 Cases in Africa

Currently, states in Africa have recorded cases of COVID-19. Some, like Seychelles, have not registered as much, while some like South Africa are leading. Coronavirus happens to have taken a toll on South Africa. Lab reports from the country confirmed cases of the highly contagious coronavirus variant. The South African government urged its citizens to keep calm as they were doing their level best to contain the situation.

The country has already started vaccination campaigns. Part of its population has already undergone the vaccination process. Scientists are hoping that the new variant won’t impact negatively on the vaccine. The total toll for coronavirus cases in the continent is about 3.1 million, while deaths are over 76000. Different states hope that the unlimited shots of coronavirus vaccines secured by the African Union will arrive in the continent in April this year. Meanwhile, countries continue to obey the Coronavirus safety measures.