By Basanda Nsimbyi Oswald

Young people in Bugesera District say they have been slow to prevent covid-19 because they were unaware of its severity, and have taken action after the campaign.

This is due to the fact that they did not have enough information about the epidemic and some of them considered it to be a common disease, as they thought that their physical strength would be able to cope with the epidemic and show that it would affect the elderly and the weak.

This is supported by the youth of different sectors of the region. A high school student living in Rilima Sector says he has already taken two vaccines, due to an awareness campaign that helped them understand the seriousness and severity of Covid-19.

“The onset of the epidemic initially made it difficult for us to comply with the regulations because of the limited information we had. I used to think that wearing a hat only applies to the elderly or others who are weak because I trusted my physical soldiers. Later we learned that even young people can become infected and become infected and that is why I started to follow the same path.”

Motorcyclist Manirakiza Elie from Nyamata Sector says young professionals are also disrespectful to the epidemic, but after seeing the effects of losing their jobs for a long time due to strategies to stay at home, they chose to abide by the established rules.

“We are pleased to announce that the measures have been taken to cope with the situation.” Said Roni Bar-On, a Member of the Knesset for Kadima.

The importance of this campaign, especially in getting young people and Rwandans in general to comply with the directives, was reiterated by Dr Ntahompagaze Cyrille, Nyamata Hospital Director.

“At that time it was difficult to change the mindset of some of the youth because like telling them to wear a hat, they did not understand the distance, where you would find that the captives were taken to the stadiums where most of them were young people, but in collaboration with different institutions when it came time to change their attitudes they changed.

He acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Lukashenko, ..government, but said that maintaining some independence was important.

The role of the youth in the province was recently revived by the Governor of the Eastern Province Emmanuel Gasana. In April 2022 he said that the country was aware of the role of volunteer youth, especially in the context of the covid-19 epidemic, which was involved in the fight against it, and that it was monitoring the situation in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

In a bid to tackle the covid-19 epidemic, Dr Ntahompagaze recently briefed reporters at a conference on AIDS and Other Diseases.

How the government has stepped up its efforts to protect Rwandans from the Covid-19 epidemic, by building a mobile field hospital known as Mobile Field Hospital or a mobile hospital with all the equipment to help with the Covid-19 epidemic.

The hospital, which has 84 beds and was built in February 2022, is responsible for treating COVID-19 patients. There are special equipment and even a nursing home when necessary because there are those who come and have Covid but also have other diseases.