KIGALI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has not let up efforts to prevent malaria infection in the country despite the ongoing fight against COVID-19, an official said Saturday.

"Even with more efforts dedicated to contain COVID-19 in the country, we continue to scale up efforts to fight malaria in the country," Aimable Mbituyumuremyi, the malaria and other parasitic diseases division manager at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, said in comments on World Malaria Day while appearing on national Radio Rwanda.

"In prevention measures distribution of treated mosquito nets has continued and has so far reached 13 districts. The distribution will continue next week for the remaining districts," he added.

The government plans to give out more than 7.5 million bed nets by the end of April across 30 districts, said the official.

Indoor residual spraying also continued in high risk malaria areas with nine districts so far covered, Mbituyumuremyi said, adding that the remaining districts will be covered next week.

Some of the 12 high risk malaria areas covered by indoor residual spraying include Bugesera, Ngoma, Kirehe, and Huye districts.

In nearing services to people, he noted that community health workers continued to treat malaria patients.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Health in March showed that malaria related deaths in Rwanda reduced from 663 annually in 2015/16 to 264 cases in 2018/19, attributable to community health workers.

Community health workers handle 57 percent of the 3.5 million cases registered each year, according to the ministry.

Statistics also showed that home-based malaria rates increased from 50 percent in 2018 to 57.1 percent in 2019.

Last month, Rwanda launched tech-driven fight against malaria, using drones to spray mosquito lava in their habitants before they mature.

The World Malaria Day was marked Saturday under the theme "Zero malaria starts with me."

The World Health Organization (WHO) has set 2030 as the year for malaria elimination.

There were an estimated 405,000 malaria deaths in 2018 globally, according to the WHO 2019 report released last December. Enditem

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