36 new COVID-19 cases confirmed

Kampala, Uganda| AFP |  THE INDEPENDENT |  36 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 593. The new cases were part of 1,310 samples that were tested on Friday.

All the new cases are Ugandan contacts to people who have already tested positive for the disease. 15 of them are from Kyotera, nine are frontline health workers from Kampala while eight cases were from Yumbe. The rest were picked from the areas of Mayuge,Pader and Buvuma.

The nine cases among health workers brings the number of health workers who have tested positive for the disease to 17.  Last week, the first case of an infected health worker was reported at Mulago Women and Neonatal Hospital.

Doctors under the Uganda Medical Association have in the past attributed the health worker’s infections to the poor training of health workers who are placed on COVID-19 treatment wards.

The rise in the number of community cases is a cause of worry according to health ministry officials. Dr Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary says they are worried the disease can easily spread now.

“Spread of the disease is now going to be easy with the more cases we are getting. Someone can easily get in touch in the community and spread the disease,” she said.

The health ministry has previously been concentrating on testing truck drivers to stop the spread of the disease in communities where they normally make stops. However, experts say it was hard to control the movement of drivers because in some cases they provided false information which made tracking them difficult.

As of today, 82 people have been discharged.

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