He made the revelation on Thursday evening appearing on national broadcaster.

“Conducted sample tests prove empirical symptoms that Delta variant of COVID-19 has emerged in Rwanda. Even health workers following up patients closely reveal that newly infected people are showing severe symptoms than the ones experienced before. Some of the patients are reporting with severe headache, general fatigue and difficulties in breathing. They are all vital signs of the Delta variant,” said Dr. Ngamije.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the first case of Delta variant was confirmed in India. The Coronavirus variant is said to be highly contagious than other variants including ‘Alpha’ that was detected for the first time in the United Kingdom, ‘Beta’ found in South Africa and ‘Gamma’ confirmed in Brasilia.

Health reports show that Delta variant is currently the most contagious version of the coronavirus worldwide as it spreads about 225% faster than the original version of the virus.

On 29th May 2021, Rwanda recorded 14 new cases and zero death. At the time, the country had registered 26,892 total infections and 352 COVID-19 related deaths since the pandemic emerged on 14th March 2020.

As new infections decreased, the country lifted some restrictions allowing wedding receptions and reopening of other activities.

On 7th June, Rwanda experienced a wave of new infections hitting 62 in one day and subsequently increased to 127 on 11th June and 622 on 21st June 2021.

Since then, new infections continued to rise on daily basis hitting over 700 and 900 cases.

The wave saw the country registering 18.147 new cases and 155 deaths in 39 days.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije has said that there are scientific evidences that the Delta variant of COVID-19 has emerged in Rwanda.