The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA | UN Refugee Agency in Uganda on Saturday expressed concern after 22 aid workers and 72 refugees tested positive for COVID-19 in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in western Uganda.
Rocco Nuri, a senior external relations officer of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said a team is already in the settlement to identify and shield the most vulnerable individuals, especially the elderly and those with the chronic illness.
“We remain concerned about the situation, whilst appreciating that this is a global pandemic and does not discriminate,” said Nuri.
He said UNHCR will work with the ministry of health, national, district authorities and partners to build local capacities and systems to monitor, respond and contain the virus outbreak.
Government on Aug. 26 put Kyangwali under a lockdown, restricting movements and activities in the settlement, according to UNHCR. The settlement has already registered one COVID-19 death.
According to the refugee agency, the settlement hosts about 120,000 refugees, mainly those fleeing insecurity from the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
As of Aug. 28, Uganda had registered a total of 2,756 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,288 recoveries and 28 deaths, according to the health ministry figures.
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XINHUA
During this pandemic, most of the safety measures to protect we Ugandans as well as the whole world were put in place but it’s so alarming that even we health workers have started to becoming victims of the deadly disease. As a psychiatric nurse, when i look at the life in refeguee camps where my dream career is for used so as to expertise my knowledge and skills i feel so sad to see that the refugees in the picture above aren’t having masks,face Shields and gloves as well as there isn’t a hand washing facility which puts their life in danger. As refegues, they have psychological distress and if such starts to happen in their environment yet they’re in big numbers then there’re higher chances of them breaking down mentally. I urge my fellow health workers to be very consious than ever before during this period so that we deliver quality services as trained. Thanks alot .For and my country i remain AHABWE EDWIN
It’s ok