The government of Burundi has begun a compulsory Covid-19 testing campaign for all pupils in boarding schools. This initiative will last until 14 September.

One of these screening centres is in the Ntahangwa community, north of Bujumbura. Parents, teachers and pupils responded massively to the campaign as reports show that queues began to form in the morning hours around 10 am local time. At least 400 students were screened before the end of the day.

“The students have responded massively. We are going to work to enable these students to access testing easily and we have called on those in charge of the sites to give preference to the students,” Dr Thaddee Ndikumana, minister of public health and Aids control in Burundi said.

At this screening site in the north of Bujumbura, some parents accompanied their children. Some said that this campaign is very necessary to avoid the spread of the virus in schools.

“As parents, we welcomed this measure to examine our children. To those who have not yet understood, we ask them to turn up in large numbers tomorrow.,” one of the parents asked.

The central African country has reported 14,189 cases of coronavirus so far, according to its latest data on Worldometer.