By Our Reporter
The number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths in Uganda has risen to 70 according to the latest updates from the Ministry of Health.
Information obtained by this website indicates that the Ministry registered one (1) COVID-19 death on Wednesday, bringing the total number of death to 70, out of 7,064 COVID-19 total cumulative cases and 3,226 recoveries,
Meanwhile, this comes at a time when Uganda has just been named among the top 10 countries in the world that have spearheaded the fight against COVID-19.
A recent study of the response of Sub-Saharan governments to the spread of the Corona virus disease COVID-19 sweeping across the globe ranks Uganda highly.
The survey by GeoPoll which is the world’s largest mobile survey platform with a network of 200 million users in Africa and Asia was conducted in 12 countries between April 02 and 09. The study was run through SMS and mobile web, in which a web link is sent through a text message and opened in a basic browser.
Countries surveyed included Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique.
Respondents in each country were asked to either strongly agree or disagree on a scale of 1-5 with the statement that: “My government has done enough to stop the spread of coronavirus. The Ugandan government scored highly at 4. Only Rwanda scored higher at 4.4 while Mozambique was third at 3.7.
According to the study, countries studied have taken a variety of actions to prevent the spread of coronavirus. As of April 13, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa were under nationwide lockdown measures, while Benin, Ghana, Kenya, DRC, Cote D’Ivoire, and Nigeria were under partial lockdowns in key areas. Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique had by this time still resisted calls for wide lockdown measures.
Generally, the rollout of these measures has been mixed, with reports of violence in countries including Kenya and South Africa as curfews and lockdowns are enforced.
But the study also found that in the countries studied, most respondent said they have taken some preventative measures against the virus’ spread. The majority stated that they are currently self-quarantining.
The study authors say they found that despite the difficulties that many will face due to quarantining measures, people are acting to stop the its spread because the danger of the disease has been made clear.