16th March 2020

Today should have been a busy day - a brief visit at the weekly review meeting before heading to the office to finish the resources, and another meeting in the afternoon with the inclusive education lead, a consultant and a consultant toolkit writer who has flown in from the UK to work on this.  He is only here for three days but as it turns out, we can't meet him anyway.  So we start the first of many, many Skype calls and try the best we can to move forward and make plans for tasks and allocating roles.

I hear from my sisters that my parents are getting on the buses and the tube to go shopping.  We’re incredulous that they are doing this at the age of 77, but it seems they are not worried in the slightest. We decide on our family chat that we’ve got to try and persuade them to stay in.

The UK now has 1547 cases and 55 deaths.  Boris Johnson has finally said that everyone should  avoid social contact with others and stop non-essential travel, as well as recommending that people work from home and avoid pubs, clubs and other social venues.

“What we’re announcing today is a very substantial change in the way we want people to live their lives…I don’t think there’s really been anything like it in peace time”

The US now has 3,503 cases, double yesterday's figures, and 58 deaths.

Rwanda has two more cases.  We are on Day 2, with just 5 cases.  The UK and US are on Day 45 and 54 respectively.  Already Rwanda has made far more progress at initiating social distancing.