Uganda searching for COVID-19 positive Tanzanian driver

UPDATE: Uganda Covid19
✳ 9,975 tested
✳ 55 confirmed cases
✳ 1 foreign (to be repatriated)
✳ 20 recoveries
✳ active cases 35
✳ 0 deaths

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN | Uganda health officials have started a man-hunt for a driver from Tanzania whose test results have returned positive for COVID-19, a day after entering the country.

Ministry of health in a statement Friday night said tests of 744 samples from truck drivers at border points and 376 samples from individuals in quarantine, turned out only one positive.

URA Spokesperson Vincent Seruma however clarified later that the Tanzanian  suspect is not actually a truck driver as Ministry of Health stated, and cannot be tracked. He was simply following the cargo and was driving a land cruiser that did not have an electronic seal used to track trucks.

Health officials and Police will now have to rely on CCTV to trace the land cruiser he was driving.

The new COVID-19 case is a 34 year old Tanzanian driver who crossed the Mutukula Uganda -Tanzania border point on Thursday. He will be returned to Tanzania once traced.

Uganda’s COVID-19 confirmed local cases, being or were treated in Uganda, remains at 55. Of these, 20 have recovered and have been released, while 35 are in hospital.

As a new measure adopted to further combat the spread of COVID-19 at Uganda’s borders, all truck drivers entering Uganda are required to present themselves to the Ministry of Health officials for testing. They are however allowed to drive on into Uganda until their results are confirmed.

Early this week, a truck driver en route to Southern Sudan went through the same procedure before clearance by immigrations and URA to proceed with his journey.

Nearly 24 hours later, the results came back and one of the drivers tested positive. The URA Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) was used to trace the actual movement of the driver from Malaba OSBP up to corner Kamdini customs check point where he was intercepted.

RECTS utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) to trace the movement of trucks from their point of entry in a country right up to the point of exit to curb cargo dumping among many other risks along trade routes.

Following this interception, a team led by Amelia Kyambade Uganda’s Trade Minister who is also the Chairperson of the National COVID-19 Taskforce, met at the URA headquarters this week to further discuss how they can take advantage of the Electronic Cargo Tracking System in the fight to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Kyambade was accompanied by Gen. Katumba Wamala the Co-chairperson of the Taskforce who is also the Minister of Works and Transport together with other dignitaries from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry Of Health.

The URA Commissioner General, John R Musinguzi took the team on a tour of the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System Control Centre and they witnessed how trucks are electronically trailed in real-time from the points of entry up to when they exit the country. They also visited the Central Command Targeting Center where they witnessed real-time monitoring of activities at the borders.

This monitoring can further provide information to the National COVID-19 Taskforce on what is happening at the borders in terms of whether people are practising and adhering to the medical guidelines issued such as social distancing, washing and sanitizing their hands, who are sneaking into the country and so much more.

The Taskforce together with URA management further discussed how to utilize the tracking system to ensure the safety of truck drivers in a bid to combat the spread of COVID-19.

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