FULL SPEECH: Uganda’s ‘winning’ strategy against COVID-19

May 19, 2020
✳ 77,456 Overall tests done
✳ 264 Total Confirmed cases
✳ 80 admitted
✳ 65 Recoveries
✳ 0 deaths

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has said Uganda’s strategy on the lock-down has helped officials have a rough idea as to where the ‘enemy’ is coming from and prepare better.

“Our strategy in this war is to avoid the sickness and survive as a country that can still function in normal ways of a semi-modern or even more modern country. It is not to avoid sickness and collapse. That would be suicide,” Museveni said in his latest address to the nation of efforts to contain the Coronavirus pandemic. (full speech bottom)

Uganda has not registered any deaths so far, and is currently treating 80, 65 have recovered from a total of 264 confirmed cases. The majority of these are truck drivers from the neigbouring countries.

“The strategy of lockdown has helped us to have a rough idea as to where the enemy is mainly coming from and also to prepare better,” he said.

“Where has the enemy been coming from?  It seems, there are three answers to this.  One, initially, the enemy was coming from Dubai, Europe, the USA, etc.

Uganda blocked “that enemy” by closing the Airport, suspending all passenger travel except for emergencies and humanitarian flights and closing land and water borders for all passengers (vehicles-born, boats-born or pedestrians).

“Secondly, the enemy is now coming from the cargo drivers ─ mainly lorry drivers. This is 73% of all the positive cases. I know how much the Ugandans are hostile to the policy of allowing the lorry drivers to continue to enter and leave Uganda. Many Ugandans wanted to block out and in, all the lorry drivers. However, as I told you, that would have been suicidal and more self-hurting.”

The third route, he said, that ” the enemy (the virus) can use are infiltrators from the neighbouring countries that sneak in through the porous artificial borders. Fortunately, our powerful LC system, worried about the safety of themselves and their village mates, are reliable allies in this matter. They will expose any infiltration. ”

FULL SPEECH

Address to the Nation on Co… by The Independent Magazine on Scribd