Uganda has been ranked as the first African country in terms of suppressing the COVID-19 pandemic, and has ranked 10th globally.
The rankings were part of a statement from the Lancet Commission that was released during the 75th United Nations General Assembly.
While commenting about the achievement, Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said that this very good news to the country and if we join hands in terms of adhering to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), we can defeat the Coronavirus.
Dr Aceng said, “This is incredibly good news for us. Uganda continues to make her mark on the global front. If we join hands, adhere to SOPs and preventive measures, we can fight the virus that is amidst us. Remember COVID is real and it kills but its preventable. Stay safe.”
A statement from the Lancet Commission which released the rankings revealed that their data report was based on four indicators of the pandemic, that is;
The number of COVID-19 tests done by August relative to the number of new cases in the Month of August, newly confirmed cases per million per day averaged over the 31 days of August, the mortality rate measured as deaths per million per day averaged by August and reproductive number averaged over a month to indicate either a rise or fall in the epidemic in a given country.
Uganda has currently tested a total of 463,618 COVID-19 samples since the outbreak in March and 7,064 samples have tested positive for the virus in that period, according to the Ministry of Health data.
The country has also registered 3,226 recoveries during the same period and 70 fatalities.
The Ministry of Health has attributed their success in fighting the pandemic to the country’s dedicated scientists and President Yoweri Museveni, who they say has provided the necessary leadership during the COVID-19 time.
Other African countries that were listed include Togo, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Malaysia, New Zealand were among the others in the Top 10 with Uganda.
