The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Namisindwa, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two female contacts of the first COVID-19 death who have been under quarantine in Namisindwa district have tested positive for the virus.
The contacts include a Village Health team worker and a health worker attached to Buwasunguyi health center II in Namisindwa district.
Edward Nyongesa, the Mbale district taskforce confirmed on Saturday the two positive cases in a WhatsApp message posted in the Mbale district taskforce WhatsApp group.
Enuci Chimatal, 34-year-old Ugandan who was a resident of Namabya sub county in Namisindwa district was confirmed to have died of COVID-19 by the Ministry of Health on Thursday. Over 50 people were quarantined in Mbale and Namisindwa in relation to her death.
Dr. Stephen Masai, the Namisindwa district health officer told Uganda Radio Network -URN that more 19 people have been picked as contacts of the deceased.
These include family members, closed neighbors who had abandoned the village after hearing the news of the death. This brings the number of people quarantined as of Friday to 75 in both Namisindwa and Mbale.
The deceased was a resident of Sisongofwa village in Namisidwa district. She was a support staff at Buwasuguyi health center II and a Village Health team worker.
Dr. Masai has now said that the number of people they are still looking for is high estimating it to be over 200 both contacts of the deceased and contacts of the contacts.
The Namisindwa district LCV chairperson George William Wopuwa said that the number of contacts being looked for is still big.
He said that some people have started running away from the community which is posing a big threat since they are also transmitting the disease to other places.
According to information obtained from Dr. Dominic Wobuloko, a senior doctor in Mbale and a member of the Mbale district taskforce, 2 weeks ago, the deceased used a boda boda and disappeared from the heath unit where she was working to Crisco hospital in Butiru to visit a patient. The boda boda cyclist who was carrying her to these visits is on the run.
He said that from there she left for Malaba in Tororo to visit her relatives and when she returned her health started deteriorating. She was admitted at Buwasuguyi health center II before being transferred to Joy Hospice in Mbale where she died.
Both health units in Namisindwa and Mbale districts have since been closed and the health workers together with the patients who were there quarantined.
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URN
People of Namisindwa should take it serious, and abide by the preventive measures as give by the ministry of health to prevent occurrence of more covid 19 cases, even leaders who are misleading the public should stop, covid 19 is real and kills