Rwanda reacts early and effectively to the pandemic with this hand-washing facility at the bus terminal in Kigali in mid-March. Photo by Cyril Ndegeya, used with permission.
Editor's note: This article originally appeared in Friedrich Ebert Stiftung blog and is republished here with permission with light edits.
Following the World Health Organization's designation of the coronavirus as a pandemic, Rwanda became the first country in Africa to enter a phase of confinement. On March 23, the government ordered a strict lockdown, restricting traveling and closing universities to reduce the spread of the virus in the country. Since then, there have been 7,970 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 74 deaths and 6,289 recovered cases in Rwanda, according to Johns Hopkins University.