The newly recorded COVID-19 case was revealed by the Spokesperson of the Uganda Prisons service Frank Baine.
Uganda prisons have confirmed its first Covid-19 case. The case is of a suspect who was in isolation and tested positive.
The newly recorded case was revealed by the Spokesperson of the Uganda Prisons service Frank Baine while addressing a press conference on Wednesday.
The prison’s mouthpiece said the suspect was in isolation at the prison’s centre in Kawuti Prison, Namutumba in eastern Uganda.
“ I am here to inform the nation that on Monday the suspect was in Kawuti Prison, Namutumba, eastern Uganda,” the Spokesperson of the Prison Service said in a press conference.
Baine also added that the case was confirmed on Monday when the results came out and found that the suspect was positive.
“By the close of business on Monday, the results came and he was positive,” Baine said.
Baine added that the suspect was in isolation and he had not yet secured bail to be released from prison by the time the results confirmed that he was positive, he was handed over straight to the Ministry of Health.
“luckily, he was in isolation and at the same time his people had secured his release from prison but because of what is going on, we were unable to hand him over to his relatives but the Ministry of Health and is being treated in Jinja,” Baine added.
The Uganda Prisons Commissioner General Dr Johnson Byabashaija said that they have already put in place a contingency plan to handle Coronavirus.
Uganda prisons have about 62000 inmates and Byabashaija said they were congested by 300 per cent and in simple terms, this means that every space meant to be occupied by one person is currently occupied by three people.
Uganda’s COVID-19 cases are now at 665 after the ministry confirmed 8 new cases. The latest cases are from 2,423 samples tested on Tuesday. Of the new cases, 4 are truck drivers who arrived via Elegu border point and Mutukula border point of Entry.
The other 4 cases are alerts and contacts to the previously confirmed cases.
31, foreign truck drivers with 16 Kenyans, 8 Tanzanians, 5 Eritreans, 1 Burundian and 1 South Sudanese. They were handed over to their respective countries of origin after testing positive to the virus.
Uganda has so far registered 119 recoveries and no fatalities according to Dr Henry Mwebesa, the Director-General Health Services at the health ministry.
