21st March 2020

Katie and I meet again in Remera at a shop that sells good bread, and to go for a coffee.  The main roads that are usually throbbing with traffic are quiet and mainly empty. Question Coffee is closed so we find one that is open.

The Netherlands have put on a special flight to fly their nationals home.  I see on social media that 40 of them did not turn up.

A statement is issued by the Office of the Prime Minister citing further steps in the battle against COVID-19, to be carried out for an initial period of 14 days.

Moto drivers are a big part of Rwanda and it's painful to think about how they will manage without work, as well as shopkeepers who don't sell essentials.

Katie and I will no longer be able to meet, and she will not be able to move into the apartment next door, as we live in different districts.

Hannah lives in Rwamagana an hour and a half by bus away, so even more isolated.  That evening we play our first card game by Skype.

No new cases were identified today.

Meanwhile in the UK, people are being told to be responsible when they shop and think of others.  The stockpiling is getting out of hand and people are having trouble finding items in the shops.  Apparently there is a billion pounds more food in people's houses than there were three weeks ago.  I see a video on social media of people fighting over toilet roll.  It seems so far removed from where I am.  Not that many people could afford to stockpile anyway.

WHO warns young people that they are not invincible.  Try telling that to your 22 year old son who is travelling to work on the tube.  Another son who is taking things more seriously calls and tells me about the things that people are doing, and sends photos of people by the sea, eating ice-cream and sitting on beaches in close proximity to each other.  No one seems to be taking the social distancing seriously and no-one is enforcing it.