Coronavirus in Uganda

Oct132020 by Our ReporterNo Comments

Schools reopening in Uganda and Neighbouring Countries

7 months after closure due to COVID-19, schools reopen with preventive measures Schools in several African countries reopened Monday after over seven months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. The reopening of schools in Uganda follows an assessment done in September by the Education Ministry in partnership with the Higher Education Council which inspected 29 universities and other higher education institutions to ascertain their readiness. “We are ready to start teaching and learning with respect to the safety protocols. We have installed posters and screens at different corners of the campus, demonstrating how to behave to contain the spread of coronavirus while in the classrooms and other university premises,” Education government Official. The reopening of se...

Oct132020 by Our ReporterNo Comments

Is it Hydroxychloroquine or Restrictions for Uganda’s low Coronavirus Cases!

FEATURED, Health, NEWS

Hydroxychloroquine has been touted by some — including President Donald Trump — as a treatment for COVID-19. But studies have found it is not an effective treatment and may cause serious side effects for some patients, as we’ve reported. False claims about the drug nevertheless continue to circulate on social media. An article shared on Facebook from the website palmerfoundation.com.au is headlined, “Hydroxychloroquine is why Uganda, with a population of 43M, has only 15 COVID-19 deaths.” “Uganda, a country in east-central Africa, has a 2018 population of 42.729 million, which is 13% of the United States’ population of 328.239 million in 2019,” the article says. “And yet Uganda has 1,603 COVID-19 cases and just 15 deaths (h/t Rush Limbaugh), wh...

Oct112020 by Abel kawereNo Comments

21 Arrested over holding sex party in Kireka.

FEATURED, Health, NEWS

Police in Kampala Metropolitan Area have raided and arrested 21 suspects who participated in a sex party. The party was taking place in a private house located in Kireka, Kira Municipality. Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Patrick Onyango said that they got intelligence information about the party and planted informants to monitor and inform the force when the party has started. “Towards midnight, the police were notified that the sex games had started and we swung in action. We got the participants red handed,” Onyango said in a statement on Sunday. “They have been arrested and detained at Kira Division Police Station on charges of disobedience of lawful orders on Covid-19 and doing acts that are likely to cause the spread of the infectious dise...

Oct42020 by Abel kawereNo Comments

Coronavirus – UNICEF Uganda Humanitarian Situation Report No. 7: July-August 2020

FEATURED, Health, NEWS

Highlights Uganda confirmed 3,074 cases of COVID-19 among Ugandan nationals during the reporting period; the majority of cases were in males (86 per cent). Uganda’s cumulative COVID-19 caseload included 1,699 recoveries, 32 deaths (with a case fatality rate of 1.0 per cent), and 86 cases in children (representing 2.8 per cent of the country’s total caseload).A cumulative total of 4,790,000 children and women continued to receive essential health care services—including immunizations, prenatal, postnatal, and HIV services, and care for gender-based violence—in UNICEF-supported health facilities during the COVID-19 period from March to August 2020.The Government of Uganda, with support from UNICEF, provided Vitamin A supplementation to nearly 408,000 children, psychosocial support servic...

Oct22020 by Our ReporterNo Comments

Uganda Records 158 New COVID-19 Cases.

FEATURED, Health, NEWS

Uganda's Ministry of Health on Thursday reported 158 new coronavirus cases raising the national total to 8,287. Majority of the new cases (125) were reported from contacts and alerts with the capital Kampala accounting for most of them (76 or about 61 percent). The remaining 26 areas each recorded between a minimum of one case and a maximum of four cases. The other 33 new cases were all Ugandan returnees from Oman (18), Jordan (10) and Afghanistan (5). The East African country has reported at least 110 confirmed coronavirus cases for the last 18 straight days; this included a new record highest daily increase in cases. Despite this recent trend, President Yoweri Museveni announced a further easing of COVID-19-related restrictions in the country. Museveni said the country co...

Sep212020 by Abel kawereNo Comments

Uganda Opens Airport, Land borders after 6-Month Closure

FEATURED, Health, NEWS, Politics

Airlines, including Uganda Airlines, Turkish Airlines, expected to resume flights after re-opening decision. Uganda’s president announced Sunday that the country's international airport and land borders will reopen and resume operations for tourists after a more than six-month closure as part of measures against the spread of COVID-19. Yoweri Museveni's announcement came during his 20th address to the nation on government measures to contain the virus's spread in the country. The president also said any passengers arriving in Uganda must be in possession of a negative COVID-19 polymerize chain reaction (PCR) test result from an accredited laboratory in the country of origin. The test should have been conducted within the last 72 hours before the scheduled departure from the co...

Sep202020 by Abel kawereNo Comments

Uganda Registers Highest Daily Increase of New COVID-19 Cases

FEATURED, Health, NEWS

Uganda's ministry of health on Saturday recorded 423 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily increase since the outbreak, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 6,017. Out of the 2,320 samples collected over the past 24 hours, 411 contacts and alerts cases, 12 returnees from Saudi Arabia, India and Jordan tested positive for the novel coronavirus, said a ministry in a statement. Out of the 411 contacts and alerts that tested positive for COVID-19, 166 are prison inmates under quarantine in Moroto,it said. Out of the 306 samples collected from cargo truck drivers, none of the foreign cross-border truck drivers tested positive for COVID-19 at Uganda's common border point of entry, it said. Two new COVID-19 deaths were reported in the capital, Kampala and ...

Sep192020 by Abel kawereNo Comments

IOM Supports Voluntary Return of Ugandans Stranded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

FEATURED, Health, NEWS, TRAVEL

More than 100 Ugandan migrant workers stranded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to the COVID-19-induced economic downturn and travel restrictions have been assisted to return home voluntarily by the International Organization for Migration, in partnership with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Uganda. With support from the IOM Regional Office in Nairobi, IOM missions in Uganda and Bahrain worked closely with Ugandan authorities and embassy representatives in Riyadh on the identification and screening of 229 Ugandan nationals in Saudi Arabia. IOM assistance eventually went to the 113 most vulnerable migrants who had no other means to return to Uganda and had tested free of COVID-19. Tens of thousands of Ugandans are working abroad, especially in the Middle...

Sep152020 by Abel kawereNo Comments

Ministry of Health and WHO Respond to a Spike of Covid-19 Infection in Amuru Prison

FEATURED, Health, NEWS

Amuru Prison is just like any other prisons facility in Uganda with prisoners going about their daily chores and routines under the watchful eyes of wardens. The situation has been like this for years, and it continues to be. However, on 22 August 2020, the routine changed when 153 prisoners and one wader tested positive for COVID-19 at the facility. The confirmation changed Uganda's COVID-19 narrative as this was the first and biggest cluster of COVID-19 infection to be detected in the country, significantly increasing the cumulative national tally. The detection of the 154 cases at the prison facility followed risk-based testing conducted following confirmation of three COVID-19 cases at Pece Prisons in Gulu who had transited through Amuru from Elegu on the border with Sou...

Jun112020 by Our ReporterNo Comments

Panic As Uganda Prisons Officers, Inmates Test Positive For COVID-19

FEATURED, NEWS

By Keefa Nuwahereza Prisons officers in Uganda are on tension following the outbreak of Coronavirus in some prisons in the country. This Website has established that at least 199 inmates and 24 Prisons officers were on Wednesday quarantined at Kaiti prison in Namutumba District for 14 days, after a former inmate tested positive for COVID-19. While speaking to the press, Frank Baine, the Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson, said the confirmed case was arrested for defying the presidential directive in Mayuge District and had so far spent four days in prison. “After handing him over to the Ministry of Health, we have gone ahead to quarantine the whole prison, with prisoners and staff there for 14 days. Today (Wednesday), we are expecting officials from the Ministry of Health to ...