Uganda registers 31 new Coronavirus cases; 20 positive truckers returned home

Uganda has registered 31 new Coronavirus cases to see the country’s tally increase to 253, the Ministry of Health has said.

According to a statement released on Tuesday evening, 23 of these cases were tested at the country’s order points whereas eight were contacts to previously confirmed cargo truck drivers.

The Ministry said the eight contacts were all under quarantine by the time of the tests.

“A total of 1116 samples were tested on Tuesday, 896 of these at the points of entry whereas 220 samples were from communities and contacts,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

In a related development, the Ministry of Health also announced that it had returned 20 truck drivers to their countries of origin after testing positive.

Of the 20, 16 truck drivers were Tanzanians whereas four of these were Kenyans to bring the number of positive truck drivers returned to their countries of origin to 270.

After concerns by Ugandans over the swelling numbers of Coronavirus cases in the country mainly caused by truck drivers from neighbouring countries, President Museveni directed that testing be done at the entry points and results released instantly.

Previously, all truck drivers would be allowed into the country, get tested and drive to their respective destinations and would be tracked later after release of their results.

However, government introduced the rapid testing system for Covid-19 using the GeneXpert machines and as part of the system, all foreign truck drivers who test positive are returned to their countries of origin for treatment.