Covid-19 patient gives birth in Rwanda treatment facility

 KIGALI, Rwanda

Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) has announced that one of the Covid-19 patients currently in a local treatment facility has given birth to a baby boy.

“We are pleased to announce that one of the Coronavirus patients has given birth in Rugerero Covid-19 treatment center. Both the mother and the baby are in good condition,” read a tweet from RBC on Friday, July 17.

The news created brought excitement amidst the pandemic.

One Twitter user commented, “Oooh! Thank God they are safe, those are God’s miracles”, one tweeted.

Others commended the efforts of the Ministry of Health for the great job they are doing in the interest of the Rwandan population.

“Good work to RBC and the ministry of health,” another social media user tweeted.

Since the first Covid-19 case was reported on Rwandan soil in March 2020, it is the first time for the country has witnessed a patient giving birth in a treatment centre.

The mother and the baby’s identifications were not revealed, but both are currently at the Rugerero Covid-19 treatment center in Rubavu district.

Formerly a treatment facility built for Ebola during the time it was rampant across in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the centre was last month repurposed and converted into a Covid-19 treatment facility.

Rwanda’s Covid-19 cases currently stand at 1,473 of which 770 have already recovered, while four have so far succumbed to the virus.

Since the pandemic’s outbreak, Rwanda focused on scaling up its testing capacity which has surpassed 200,000 sample tests in the last four months.

Testing and isolation is the sole recommendation of World Health Organization (WHO) to slow the advance of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have a simple message to all countries - test, test, test,” the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva by March 2020.

“All countries should be able to test all suspected cases, they cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded.”

Without testing, cases cannot be isolated and the chain of infection will not be broken, he added.