Swine flu expanding away from Kigali to border areas

Out of the 227 cases that have appeared in the country since the virus was confirmed on October 14 at the elite King Faisal Hospital, some 159 patients (70, 3%) have finished treatment, the health ministry said.

No severe cases have been reported, and all confirmed cases continue to show mild symptoms, it was announced.

However, the latest 34 new confirmed cases are from the districts of Musanze and Rubanu (Northern Province); Muhanga (Southern Province) and Rusizi, in the western province.

As the virus spreads upcountry, health officials have shifted the control message to encouraging people to “cover their mouths and nose while coughing or sneezing”. But there have not been any case seen publicly of people moving masks.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, the World Health Organisation signed a major agreement with drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) which will donate 50 million doses of pandemic H1N1 vaccine, to be given to poor countries.

The WHO said it has a list of 95 developing countries that are eligible to receive donated vaccines, and aims to secure enough vaccines to cover 10 percent of the population of these countries.

In Rwanda, government also intends to vaccinate 10% of the population but is still working-out modalities to determine who will receive the doses.

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