It is exactly one year since the first case of Coronavirus was reported in the country. Rwandans have been forced to cope with new normal, which include loose of income. In addition, families have lost loved ones to the virus that has also brought economy to its knees.

Similar to hundreds of families across the country, the family of Etienne Munyentwali have started missing him and feeling depressed over the vacuum he left among them as he recently succumbed to the pandemic.

Etienne Munyentwali, 69, succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Kiziguro Hospital and left behind a widow and four children.

“He died three or so weeks after testing positive with coronavirus. It was in February 2021,” Oswald Nyandera, a descendant of late Munyantwali told Rwanda Today on the phone interview.

According to his family members, the sad news of their parents being tested positive and later succumbing to the disease caught them out of the blue.

“He fell sick and was taken to the nearby hospital as usual for checking up on what was ailing him and to my surprise the tests for covid-19 return positive,” Mr Nyandera added.

“Luckily, no other family member has been tested positive in the course of tracing the infection,” he added.

“He was the breadwinner of the family, and now the life of the family has been badly affected,” added Mr Nyandera.

Similar to Munyantwali’s family, hundreds of families have lost their lives since the coronavirus infection first reported in the country, a year ago.

According to the Ministry of Health, Coronavirus infection was first tested in the country on March 14 last year. As of March 25, out of 1.1 million testes that Ministry of Health ran 21,210 were turned positive.

The Ministry of Health puts lives that have been lost to the virus at 298, while there are still 1, 372 active cases, with 5 of whom are in critical condition.

Besides the lives lost, the economic and phycology side have as well been affected by the pandemic as many families lost their sources of living.

Jacqueline Muhimpundu has turned to the streets-vending as the coronavirus pandemic has seen her employer shut down the doors.

“I have been working in the restaurant as a servant in Nyabugogo before the pandemic after the situation changed, It was hard for me and my children, where putting food on the table becomes an everyday uphill task to climb especially during the lockdowns,” Muhimpundu narrated.

“The most challenging time that I have ever faced was the time the government imposed the total lockdown period last year. With the little saving that I had made, which was quickly dried up after a few days..." she narrates.