Health Ministry names new hotspots as Uganda registers sharp rise in Covid cases
The Ministry of Health has named new Covid hotspots as the number of new virus infections continue to go up at a terrific speed.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, the Minister for Health, Dr.Jane Ruth Aceng said whereas the country’s positivity rate consistently remained below 5% which is the desirable rate, in the last two weeks have seen a sharp rise in positive cases around the country.
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“In the last 14 days of December, we have registered 2423 confirmed cases giving and average of 173 cases per day. We have registered 100% increase in cases and positivity in the last seven days compared to the previous week,” Aceng said.
Hotspots
According to the Ministry of Health, of the 2423 new Coronavirus cases registered in the last two weeks, 1107 translating into 46% have been registered in Wakiso, 926(38%) in Kampala, Kyotera(144 cases), Tororo and Amuru among other districts.
“We have observed that 70%(775) of the cases registered in Wakiso are mostly incoming travellers through Entebbe International Airport. These are coming from Kenya, UAE, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, DRC, Nigeria and UK,”Aceng said.
She noted that the confirmed cases in the other districts are also travellers and truck drivers.
Omicron variant
The Health Minister however noted that Uganda has registered only 73 cases of the deadly Omicron variant but noted the picture could be different in communities.
Vaccination
According to the Ministry of Health, only 3,415,382 people which represents 15% of the 22 million has been fully vaccinated whereas 9,162,284(43%)have received the first dose of Covid vaccine.
With 32.69million doses of vaccines already in the country and an additional 11million doses of various vaccines expected by the end of March, Uganda has enough vaccines for all the eligible persons.
The Health Minister however noted there is need for people to continue observing Covid Standard Operating Procedures al the time.
