28 people test positive for COVID-19, cases rise to 281

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Another 28 Ugandan nationals have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 282. The positive cases were from 2,004 samples that were tested at the Uganda Virus Research Institute-UVRI and the Central Public Health Laboratory- CPHL.

Twenty-one of the confirmed cases are truck drivers who entered the country from South Sudan through the Elegu point of entry while the other seven were from previous contacts of truck drivers who were under quarantine at the time of testing.

The country handed over seven truck drivers, the lowest number of foreign drivers blocked from entering Uganda since the decision was made by President Yoweri Museveni not to treat foreign nationals. The seven cases included; four Tanzanians, one Eritrean, a Congolese and one Burundian.

As Uganda’s cases continue to rise, public health specialists are questioning the way the government has approached their response to the disease. They argue that the government has used experiences from other countries to address the outbreak in Uganda and in the progress has ignored important elements in disease control like the communities.

This comes after the health ministry declared the country to be free of community transmission. More than  20,000 people in the community were tested for COVID-19 and only four tested positive for the disease. Scientists, however, say it is too early to make such a declaration since world modelling of the disease predicts that Africa will be the next epicentre of the disease.

Uganda has so far recorded 69 recoveries of COVID-19 and no deaths.

READ LATEST UGANDA UPDATES ON COVID-19 HERE (click)

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