At least eleven (11) Ugandan returnees from Afghanistan have tested positive for COVID-19 as the national tally of confirmed cases in the country reached 889.
The Ministry of Health revealed that the 11 were all under quarantine at the time of the test.
These were part of the 19 confirmed cases in the country that were announced on Tuesday morning by Dr. Henry Mwebesa, the Director of General Health Services at the health ministry.
“The Ministry of health confirms nineteen new COVID-19 cases from 2,170 samples tested on 29th June 2020. All confirmed cases are Ugandans and are among 871 samples of alerts and contacts,” Dr. Mwebesa said in a statement.
The Nile Post understands that 91 Ugandan who were stranded in Afghanistan landed at Entebbe International Airport at 6:00 pm on Saturday last week from a plane that was on a repatriation mission and were all taken into mandatory quarantine.
Nile Post also understands that all returnees are required to undertake a PCR test for Coronavirus from their country of origin and must present certificates indicating that they are negative of the virus before boarding the plane back home.
Discordance in results is a matter that is still under investigation by a number of countries. Uganda and Kenya have suffered a similar fate recently with samples testing positive and then negative on retesting.
The Lancet laboratory in Kenya explained that the discordance “does not necessarily undermine the quality and accuracy of respective labs and tests.”
The other seven cases were confirmed from Amuru District and one from Kyotera. Dr. Mwebesa said that these were all contacts to previously confirmed cases.
Uganda, according to the health ministry has so far registered a total of 819 COVID-19 recoveries with no recorded death attached to the virus.
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