Epidemics Tracker

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The speed the new coronavirus jumped from 100,000 to 200,000 confirmed cases in Africa shows just how quickly the pandemic is accelerating on the continent, the World Health Organization said Thursday. According to an AFP tally, Africa topped the 200,000 mark on Tuesday. “It took 98 days to reach the …

Washington, United States | AFP | Surgeons have performed a double-lung transplant on a COVID-19 patient in Chicago, the hospital that carried out the procedure said Thursday, in what is thought to be a first in the United States. The patient is a young Hispanic woman in her twenties, and had spent six weeks on …

Namutumba, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Prisons Services has recorded its first coronavirus case in Kayiti prison, Namutumba district. Addressing a daily security briefing at Uganda Media Centre in Kampala, Frank Baine, the spokesperson of Prisons said that the case is a suspect who had previously had contact …

Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Dr Suzanne Kiwanuka, a senior lecturer in Health Policy Planning and Management at Makerere University School of Public Health has called for a quick revision of the criteria of admitting patients such that only critical cases are considered for isolation. Uganda recorded a total …

Baku, Azerbaijan | AFP |  Nineteen staff in the office of Azerbaijan’s president have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said, as authorities in the repressive Caucasus nation struggle to contain an escalating crisis. A further 13 infections were also confirmed among employees of the emergency situations ministry and the …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandans are increasingly becoming complacent, ignoring all safety measures initially imposed by the government to control the spread of coronavirus. Although the government ordered strict enforcement of social distancing in markets and all public places and wearing of face masks, the guidelines have been …

Kyotera, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kyotera district COVID-19 task force is stuck with ten confirmed cases of coronavirus disease due to lack of transport to Masaka Hospital. The patients have been in isolation since last week, Monday when they tested positive during the community mass surveillance testing exercise in …

Kitgum, Uganda| AFP |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Kitgum District has run out of coronavirus sample collection kits. This comes just a few days after the District health officials collected swab samples from over 50 contacts of a 34-year-old resident of Pandwong division who tested positive for COVID-19. William Komakech, the Kitgum …

Gulu, Uganda| AFP |  THE INDEPENDENT | Gulu Regional Referral Hospital has received six new COVID-19 positive patients.  The patients who are all cargo truck drivers from Elegu One-Stop Border entry point in Amuru District were admitted on Tuesday evening. This brings the number of patients admitted at the facility to …

  Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN | President Yoweri Museveni has said government plans to step up its treatment bed numbers to 40,000 as the COVID-19 pandemic cases rise in the country. Museveni said although ministry of health officials were planning to create a special 9000-bed capacity for …