Epidemics Tracker

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A total of 800 health workers are being recruited to participate in a COVID-19 vaccine study in which the researchers will access their knowledge about the vaccine. Prof. Pontiano Kaleebu, the Executive Director of Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), the agency conducting the research …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda is set to start using the Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) for COVID-19, according to the Uganda Virus Research Institute-UVRI. The test was given emergency use status by the World Health Organisation last month. The test is a rapid point-of-care swab test that directly …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Several schools might not be able to reopen as planned due to delays in inspection and release of the capitation grant. All education institutions were allowed to reopen for candidates and finalists after more than six months of a closure announced to keep COVID-19 …

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday sounded alarm over a spike in mental ailments in Africa due to COVID-19 related social and economic disruptions. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the pandemic had worsened the continent’s mental health crisis amid lockdowns, job …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Administrators at Kibuli mosque have allowed more than 70 congregants to attend jummah prayers today. The government had restricted places of worship to only 70 congregants at a time as a pre-condition for their reopening after more than six months of inactivity. The places …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Only 10 percent of the contacts of people who test positive for COVID-19 are currently being picked according to the Ministry of Health and these include only those who develop signs and symptoms consistent with the virus. While the Ministry used to trace and isolate …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Xinhua | Africa should close the inequality gaps if the continent is set to realize recovery targets aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said on Thursday. “If we do not find ways of closing …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) has called on politicians to take politics out of the Covid-19 pandemic and get serious about fighting it, if they are to prove their worth of being leaders. PSFU executive director Gideon Badagawa is particularly angered that the politicians …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Investment Authority has formed a special task force to monitor COVID-19 standard operating procedures within factories at Namanve and Mbalala industrial park. The task force will be operating under the Mukono district task force to ensure implementation of  spacing guidelines within working areas, …

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  The Ministry of Health has changed its COVID-19 testing protocols to prioritize symptomatic patients admitted in the hospitals. Previously, the same emphasis was put for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. But now, the health ministry wants to make sure that tests for patients with …