The mayor of Ruhango District, Habarurema Valens, told IGIHE that in rural areas, traders often have shops that also trade in food commodities and therefore most started pretending to be concentrating on selling food as they as well sold other items.

He said that in three days, 74 people were slapped with different punitive actions for their violations, 67 were fined with more than one million Rwandan francs and seven imprisoned.

Rwanda has so far registered 41 coronavirus positive cases. To curtail its further spread, the government restricted people’s movement, suspended public transport and ordered all businesses including shops and factories to close. The only traders allowed are vendors in food commodities, pharmacies, and affiliated institutions.