Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, on Thursday announced the cancellation of all arriving and departing commercial flights to and from Kigali beggining at midnight of Friday for an initial period of 30 days.
The decision comes after three additional coronavirus cases were identified late Wednesday in Rwanda bringing the confirmed total to eleven.
Ealier last week, RwandAir also suspended all flights to Mumbai, India, following the recent suspension on all tourist and e-visas to India,
As part of initial prevention mechanisms, Rwanda’s flag carrier, also suspended trips to Israel, Guanzhou in China.
Analysts believe that the cancellation of all RwandAir flights is mainly related to the latest confirmation of imported coronavirus cases which has been rising in the country from mostly passengers travelling with the airline from the most affected countries.
One of the cases involves an Indian woman, 37 who arrived in Rwanda on 8 March 2020 from Mumbai, India. She is the spouse of a previous confirmed positive case, the statement said.
Three new cases have so far been reported in Rwanda, the Health ministry announced late Wednesday raising the total number of infections 11, including six Rwandans.
CU/abj/APA