Rwanda to allow concerts for vaccinated, tested audiences

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Rwanda decided on Thursday to gradually allow concerts and festivals to resume in the country, ending a ban that has been in place since March 2020 to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement came from the prime minister's office following a Cabinet meeting and included concerts, festivals, exhibitions, and other events which will resume gradually with vaccinated or tested audiences.

Detailed guidelines will be announced later, according to the decision, which was a relief to the creative industry -- one of the hardest-hit in the East African country by the pandemic and the following restrictions.

Rwanda last month expanded its mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign to include all adults age 18 and over to help the country return to normal business activities in the capital Kigali and other cities, thus boosting the economy.

More than 1.5 million people in the country have received the first dose of a vaccine while 687,111 have received both doses, according to the Health Ministry.

The country aims to vaccinate 30% of its population by the end of 2021 and 60% by June 2022.

Meanwhile, the government also announced the easing of a night-time curfew in the capital Kigali as of Thursday amid efforts to further open up the economy.

Measures were, however, tightened in eight districts of the country still registering high daily infections.

The government has urged citizens' continued compliance with preventive measures, including physical distancing, wearing face masks, and hand washing. It warned that penalties would be applied for non-compliance.

As of Sep.1, Rwanda had registered an accumulated tally of 87,131 COVID-19 caseload, with 1,083 fatalities since the outbreak of the virus in the country, according to the World Health Organization.

The rate of positive cases among COVID-19 tests conducted on a weekly basis stands at 3% and daily infections are between 400 and 500.