The upsurge in Covid-19 cases in a few days and the fast-spreading Omicron variant prompted the government to reduce the waiting period to receive a booster shot from six months to three months, according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije.
Dr Ngamije says tests carried out in the past 24 hours showed that Omicron is now the most dominant variant and it has proved to spread at a rate unseen before.
Rwanda on Wednesday recorded 2,083 new cases, the highest number the cases have hit in a long time, with an assessment done showing that the new variant is behind the fast-increasing cases.
“I can say Covid-19 pandemic has already taken a turn for the worse since the first six cases of Omicron were detected in Rwanda three weeks ago,”
“Based on the assessment we have done and going by the way cases have increased over the past few days, it is fair to say that the Covid-19 situation is now at a different level,” Dr. Ngamije said.
The Minister of Health said that the genomic sequencing done this week on 23 samples all turned out to be Omicron, which confirmed that the variant has now taken over as the most common one.
Dr. Ngamije said that the previous sequencing done, only 30 percent of the samples tested (23 samples) turned out to be Omicron.
“The current picture suggests that Omicron is spreading really fast, not just in the City of Kigali but also upcountry,” the Minister said.
Despite the increasing numbers, Dr. Ngamije said that the majority of positive people don’t have serious symptoms, with many not knowing where they picked the virus from.
“As of today, it is not even possible to trace the source of the virus because there are too many people infected. Chances are you will pick the virus from anywhere, even if you observe all health protocols,” Dr. Ngamije said, explaining the fast-spreading and evolving nature of the virus.
All people 18 and above are eligible for a booster shot after 3 months.
He also pointed out that regardless of the numbers, the admissions remain low, which in a way is a good indicator, because if this variant would lead to serious symptoms and admissions, the treatment centres would perhaps already be overwhelmed.
“So far, we are not seeing any admissions despite the numbers going up at the rate of 50 people out of 100, 000 testing positive, from just 5/100, 000. Nothing has changed in our treatment centres,”
“We still have about 4 to 5 cases requiring attention in our treatment centres and one or two in the centres upcountry. This shows us, as we’ve seen with research done, Omicron spreads really fast but it doesn’t lead to hospitalisation,” Dr. Ngamije said.
He however pointed out that this is something that can be taken for granted or approached with complacency because the virus can evolve anytime and lead to serious illness, as there is more to be known about the variant which can mutate anytime.
