The COVID-19 pandemic in Burundi is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by

severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

(). The virus was confirmed to have reached Burundi on 25 March 2020.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

(WHO) confirmed that a

novel coronavirus Novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a provisional name given to coronaviruses of medical significance before a permanent name is decided upon. Although coronaviruses are endemic in humans and infections normally mild, such as the common cold (caused by ...

was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City,

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. The

case fatality ratio In epidemiology, case fatality rate (CFR) – or sometimes more accurately case-fatality risk – is the proportion of people diagnosed with a certain disease, who end up dying of it. Unlike a disease's mortality rate, the CFR does not take int ...

for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. Model-based simulations for Burundi indicate that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number ''R_t'' exceeded 1 during the first half of 2021 but diminished to around 0.7 during the second half of 2021.

Timeline

March 2020

* Burundi's Health Minister Thadée Ndikumana confirmed the country's first two cases of coronavirus disease 2019 on 31 March, Burundi nationals travelling back from Rwanda and

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respectively.

April to June 2020

* On 5 April, a further positive case was confirmed, a 39-year-old woman, while 7 other people tested negative. In total there were 20 new cases in April, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 18. One patient died (14 April) and 8 recovered, leaving 6 active cases at the end of the month. * On 12 May, the foreign ministry of Burundi addressed a letter to WHO's Africa headquarters, ordering four officials coordinating the coronavirus response to leave the country. The letter said the four individuals "are declared '' persona non grata'' and as such, must leave the territory of Burundi" by 15 May. The health minister reportedly accuses WHO of "unacceptable interference in

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management of the coronavirus". * On 28 May, First Lady Denise Bucumi-Nkurunziza tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. * There were 48 new cases in May, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 63. The death toll remained unchanged. 29 cases were active at the end of the month. * On 8 June, late President

Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 19648 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza taught ph ...

died of what was described as a heart attack in a government statement. However, with government authorities accused of deliberately covering up the scope of the pandemic, and in the wake of unconfirmed reports that his wife was flown to

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11 days before, having contracted COVID-19, some have speculated that the president died of COVID-19. * There were 107 new cases in June, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 170. The death toll remained unchanged and the number of recovered patients rose to 115, leaving 54 active cases at the end of the month.

Subsequent cases

* 2020 cases There were 818 confirmed cases in 2020. 687 patients recovered while two persons died. At the end of 2020 there were 129 active cases. Former president

Pierre Buyoya Pierre Buyoya (24 November 1949 – 17 December 2020) was a Burundian army officer and politician who served two terms as President of Burundi in 1987 to 1993 and 1996 to 2003. He was the second-longest serving president in Burundian history. An ...

died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

from COVID-19 on 17 December. * 2021 cases Photo of Burundian students wearing masks to protect themselves against Corona virus in a classroom

There were 30,797 confirmed cases in 2021, bringing the total number of cases to 31,615. 28,901 patients recovered in 2021 while 12 persons died, bringing the total death toll to 14. At the end of 2021 there were 2,013 active cases. Modelling by WHO's Regional Office for Africa suggests that due to under-reporting, the true number of infections by the end of 2021 was around 5.3 million while the true number of COVID-19 deaths was around 149. * 2022 cases There were 20,547 confirmed cases in 2022, bringing the total number of cases to 52,162. 21,805 patients recovered in 2022 while one person died, bringing the total death toll to 15. At the end of 2022 there were 754 active cases. * 2023 cases There were 1524 new cases from January to April, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 53,686. The death toll remained unchanged.

Statistics

Confirmed new cases per day

Confirmed deaths per day

Vaccinations

Through most of 2021, Burundi was one of three countries which refused to have vaccines. In February 2021, Thaddee Ndikumana, the health minister of Burundi, said his country was more concerned with prevention measures. "Since more than 95% of patients are recovering, we estimate that the vaccines are not yet necessary," local media reported. In October 2021, however, the Burundian government announced that it had received delivery of 500,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm BIBP vaccine. A targeted vaccination programme commenced on 18 October 2021.

Prevention

On 12 March 2020, the government instituted 14-day quarantining for people entering Burundi from affected countries. President Nkurunziza refused to impose restrictions on the country, permitting political rallies and sporting events to take place.

References

{{COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Burundi Burundi Disease outbreaks in Burundi