COVID-19: 50 MPs from EALA Games in Arusha test positive

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Fifty Members of Parliament and staff have tested positive for coronavirus, the Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Chris Obore has confirmed.

“About 50 Members of Parliament and staff who participated in the EAC Legislative Assembly sports in Arusha have tested positive for Covid-19. They are being managed by the Ministry of Health and Parliament health team. No hospitalization case registered. The majority who went to Arusha are safe,” said Obore.

He explains that since the games were interactive in nature, the players could not strictly observe the standard operating procedures. In an interview with Uganda Radio Network-URN, Obore’s assistant, Grace Gidudu, said that the 50 positive cases were detected at the entry of parliament.

Asked about the number of people that left the country to participate in the East African Community-EAC Inter-Parliamentary games, Gidudu could not readily avail the number. She notes that all legislators and staff tested for Covid-19 in the conference hall of parliament on Monday.

She however said this was a routine process that neither targeted the legislators nor staff that traveled to Arusha. 400 people took the test on Monday. The East African Community (EAC) Inter-Parliamentary games started on December 4th, 2020, and ended on December 17th, 2020.

The national parliaments of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, and the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) competed in eight sports disciplines including football, netball, volleyball, tug of war, golf, basketball, and darts. Uganda’s parliament emerged the overall best in athletics, with two gold medals. The lady’s team also won gold.

Uganda also won silver in football.

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URN