On July 20, 2020 during a press briefing held by the Burundi Health Minister Thaddée ndikumana, the overall Coronavirus cases in the country reached 328 after 59 people tested positive for the virus.
Burundi had launched a mass-screening campaign in effort to contain the spread of the virus, on 13-19 July 2020 at least 59 people tested positive for covid-19 in the three public testing centers located in Bujumbura.
According to health minister since March, 2020 almost ten thousand tests were conducted countrywide of which 328 tested positive, 237 recovered while one person died of the virus.
“The Government of Burundi started the mass-screening campaign which will see its third phase from July 21, 2020. We will be widening our mass-testing,” said Mr Thaddée Ndikumana.
According to the Burundian government 6816 people were tested for the virus as part of the mass campaign, of which 30 were discharged bringing the total number of recoveries to 237.
“At Kobero border in Muyinga there is a team in charge of conducting tests in order to enable those entering the country to immediately join their families without being quarantined for 14 days” said the Health Minister.
Statistics shows that the country’s business city Bujumbura was the first province to report a coronavirus case, however some cases were recorded countrywide including Bujumbura (22), Gitega (6) Cibitoke (1), Ngozi(3), Makamba (1), Kayanza(1), Rumonge (6), and Ruyigi (1).
In Burundi a higher percentage of confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulted from contact tracing of 3418 people, of which 164 tested positive to coronavirus.
In Burundi, the age bracket that is mostly affected by the pandemic are those between 35-59 years old.
According to public health research people aged 35-59 an average of 37.2 of age are likely to be infected by coronavirus, men register the highest covid-19 number to a ratio of 2.4.
In efforts to control the spread of the pandemic, rounds of activities were conducted by the ministry of public health including sensitizing every health centres about covid-19.
“We prescribe for those tested positive for covid-19 Azithromycin, Chloroquine, and Zinc. As of this July 20, 2020, the medication has been effective and highly operative”, said the Burundi health minister.