Viral video: Rwanda installs portable washbasins in public spaces to stem coronavirus outbreak

At the biggest car park in Kigali, passengers must wash their hands before they board buses — adopting the hygiene mantra advocated by health authorities across the world to tackle the outbreak. The government has flooded its capital Kigali, with portable sinks and hand sanitizers almost at every public space — churches, restaurants, banks and shops.

And to avoid contamination, they have installed foot-pedals to bring water to the taps instead of using hands.

The video went viral and earned plaudits from people around the world.

Required for each and every country who get attacked by Covid-19 https://t.co/RL0biP59Tx

— Hick town (@Hicktown7) March 13, 2020

Excellent! We have a lot to learn from certain African countries! ❤️ https://t.co/CAqJEn055K

— Elena Mora (@ElenaMoraProf) March 13, 2020

Rwanda is definitely in the advanced pages of the book while other countries are heading to the library to search for, and borrow the book….👏👏👏
Proud of you!!!! https://t.co/PHRhnmowTA

— T.i.m.o.h_official (@timothynjihia2) March 13, 2020

Amazing
I just love the fact that you use your foot to turn on the water, amazing and impressing. https://t.co/sKsYf9rn6N

— Esther Chi O. (@EstherChiO1) March 12, 2020

Tiny Rwanda is setting an example of fighting #CoronavirusPandemic boldly without panicking as many other nations are.
This is the scene of a bus stop at capital Kigali….. Kudos!
Together we can fight & defeat #COVID19 https://t.co/qvqzGgE9Fl

— hum_bolega (@hum_bolega) March 12, 2020

Great efforts Rwanda 🙌!

Everyone has a responsibility to improve sanitation and health safety – great to see this in action👏 https://t.co/IDOVtc6y75

— Paulin Basinga (@pbasinga) March 12, 2020

Impressive efforts in #Rwanda for prevention and screening! We have much to learn from our colleagues. @MoHRwanda @CDCRwanda @CDCgov @DNgamije 👏🏼👏🏼 https://t.co/73ZKEtDFO8

— Stanford Global Anesthesia (@stanesglobal) March 11, 2020

However, some said it’s a good initiative but might not be very practical as the tanks needs to be emptied and refilled regularly.

Its a good initiative..we know its difficult to implement in India with the population we have but some efforts in terms of providing sanitizers at public places/transport should be considered.

— TheCommonInvestor (@9commoninvestor) March 12, 2020

Impractical for a densely populated city like Johannesburg for so many reasons

— Kanelani Maluleke (@KanitoMA) March 12, 2020

Impractical. You have to remove used and fresh water every hour. It will let to more infections.

— Anup Sayare (@sayareakd) March 12, 2020

how can water tanks maintain sanitized

— Pryn Benedikt ⭐️🧡 (@PrynBenedikt) March 12, 2020

In the latest development, the Rwandan government has taken precautions to keep the country free from the virus such as halting large gathering events, unnecessary internal or international travels and advising Rwandans to stop handshakes among others. Although Rwanda has recorded no cases of the outbreak so far but the country has stepped up vigilance.

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According to The New Times, a Rwandan daily, similar measures have been adopted in schools where children have been asked not to shake hands and bow to others while greeting. According to the daily, gatekeepers at various schools and other educational institutes made sure that no one – a visitor or employee – entered the school compound without properly washing their hands and said everywhere long queues of pupils at wash basins were noticed.