The Spokesperson of Rwanda National Police, Commissioner of Police (CP), John Bosco Kabera on Friday refuted claims by a man arrested earlier this week of not wearing mask at Nyabugogo, a crowded commercial center located in the suburb of Kigali city that he was tortured and threatened after his arrest.
The man – who allegedly posed as a local administrative near Nyabugogo market testified last week that he was “tortured” by the Police without valid reason.
The incident report said some members of youth volunteers who are deployed across the country for the coronavirus cause, told the man, regardless of his stance on the matter of mask wearing before he refused to do so.
The report states the man continued to argue that he was not required to wear a mask before he was was handcuffed by Police and taken to the police station.
Reacting to these allegations, Commissioner of Police Kabera said that investigation have concluded that the arrested man was suffering from trauma.
Since April this year, Rwandan Government through the Ministry of Health introduced a new directive that urges citizens to wear face masks when at home and going out for essential services or activities as an additional COVID-19 precautionary measure.
The Ministry had previously called on citizens to leave masks for COVID 19 patients as well as health practitioners directly interacting with these patients.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 is primarily transmitted when someone infected with it coughs, speaks or sneezes.
The droplets from the mouth or nose of this person then gets on a surface, and another person gets infected too when he or she touches that surface and touches the nose, mouth or eyes.
The above signifies the encouragement of washing of hands with water and soap or with a hand sanitizer because they have proved to kill this virus, according to WHO.
CU/abj/APA