34 cases test negative for COVID-19

The Minister of Health announced on 8 April that 34 people, who had been in contact with three people who recently tested positive for COVID-19, have tested negative for the virus.

Thaddé Ndikumana, Minister of Health

“Twenty one among the 34 tested people had already undergone the first test while the remaining 13 were tested for the first time,” said Thaddé Ndikumana, Minister of Health at a press conference held in the evening of 8 April.

He said that the ministry will conduct a second screening test for the 13 people “in accordance with the law”.

Concerning the three COVID-19 patients, Minister Ndikumana said they still have the virus but their state of health is good. “They neither have fever nor cough or dyspnea. They eat normally,” he said.

According to the Burundian Minister of Public Health, 2,936 people have already been quarantined in several areas of the country.

“After spending 14 days in isolation, 2261 people have returned home as they did not have symptoms of COVID-19. Only 675 of them remain in quarantine,” said Minister Thaddée Ndikumana.

For people suspected of carrying COVID-19, the Minister has said the virus is not detectable by sight. Diseases such as the flu and angina present symptoms similar to those of COVID-19, he added.

He, however, said that “people who have recently stayed in countries largely infected by the Coronavirus and display symptoms of the virus must call 117 or isolate themselves at home while waiting for a medical examination.”

He announced that screening points will now be established in border regions such as Ngozi, Muyinga, Makamba, Cibitoke, etc in order to avoid that people who return to Burundi via one of these provinces mentioned above, do not have to travel to Bujumbura to be tested for the virus.

The Minister calls on the population to continue going about their daily activities “while scrupulously observing individual and collective prevention measures against COVID-19”.

On Saturday, 4 April, amid the outbreak of COVID-19 in Burundi, Belgium voluntarily repatriated its nationals and part of citizens from other European and North American countries living in Burundi.