President Yoweri Museveni has called for more vigilance in the fight against Coronavirus after a new and more dangerous variant has been confirmed in the country.
“Have you seen what is happening in India? Ugandans, I appeal to you to maintain the status quo until we have immunized a minimum number of people. To be on the safe side, let us immunize a minimum of between 5 – 7million people then we can open up on curfew. A new Covid -19 variant is already here and more dangerous,” Museveni said on Saturday.
He insisted that people should remain vigilant in the fight against the pandemic.
Uganda has so far recorded only 340 deaths whereas in neighbouring Kenya, 2,688 have died ,2349 in Sudan, Somalia 713, Rwanda 332 and South Sudan 114 deaths according to reports.
The president insisted that it is not yet time to fully open up the country considering the new Covid variant confirmed in the country but also in the destruction the virus is doing in India.
India is currently grappling with a surge in COVID-19 cases, with the Indian variant believed to be a super spreader that has affected both the young and old in equal measures.
The death toll in India has surged past 200,000 as infection rates also soar.
Last month, India recorded over 310,000 new infections, which is the world’s biggest single-day rise in coronavirus cases and more than 3,000 deaths.
According to the Minister for Health, Dr.Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda has about five Covid variants recorded from about 399 samples of people mostly coming from abroad.
“We don’t know the behaviour of these COVID-19 variants here among our population but this is still being studied. Once the scientists have studied it then we shall inform the population accordingly,”Aceng said.
She noted that Uganda has confirmed Covid variants from United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
Last week, flights between India and Uganda were banned with immediate effect by government.
“No travelers from India shall be allowed into Uganda regardless of the route of travel. All travelers who may have been to India or traveled through India in the last 14 days regardless of the route taken shall not be allowed into Uganda,” Dr. Aceng said on Friday.
The Health Minister noted that all travelers that arrived from India before the suspension of the route of travel were expected to be in possession of a negative Covid test certificate within 120 hours from the time of sample removal and that these were to undergo a mandatory Covid test upon arrival.
“All those who test positive shall undergo isolation at a government-approved isolation center at their own cost and those who test negative shall undergo self-quarantine under the supervision of Ministry of Health with mandatory re-testing between 5 to 10 days,” Aceng said.
The suspension, according to the health minister however will only affect passenger flights and will not affect “cargo flights, where the crew does not disembark, technical stops where travelers do not disembark and aircraft in a state of emergency.”
” We shall also allow operations related to humanitarian aid, medical evacuation and diplomatic flights approved by the Appropriate Authority and Nationals returning home after medical treatment in India.
