Rwanda announces 10pm-4am curfew, closure of all nightclubs

Rwanda has announced 10pm-4am curfew to curb spike in Covid-19 cases.

The restriction takes effect from Monday, December 20, the country’s Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente said in a statement on Saturday.

All businesses have also been ordered to close by 9pm, starting Monday.

Rwanda also suspended all concerts and ordered the closure of nightclubs until further notice.

Bars and restaurants have, however, been directed to serve 50 per cent of their holding capacities, with facilities in the capital city, Kigali, ordered to serve only vaccinated customers.

Travellers arriving in Rwanda will also be forced to undergo a three-day quarantine and Covid-19 testing before being allowed to integrate into the community. The quarantine costs will be footed by the travellers themselves.

Further, all passengers arriving or departing from the Kigali International Airport will be required to present a negative Covid-19 certificate, acquired 72 hours before travel.

The road transport operations are, however, uninterrupted, with buses allowed to carry full capacity.

Wedding attendance has been capped at 30 per cent of the venue or a maximum of 75 guests.

The Government also directed public and private companies to limit the number of employees attending work physically to 30 per cent of the holding capacity.

On Friday, December 17, Rwanda announced 153 new cases of Covid-19, raising the caseload to 101,183.

The country, which has a population of 12.9 million people, has thus far conducted 3.73 million Covid-19 tests.

Rwanda has so far recorded 1,344 Covid-19-related deaths, 45,522 recoveries, with 54,317 cases active currently.

As of Friday, December 17, the country had vaccinated a total of 7.16 million people against Covid-19, with 4.62 million of these fully vaccinated, while 2.54 million are partially inoculated.