Panic in Masaka over seven suspected Coronavirus disease COVID-19 case
Seven people who recently returned from Dubai have been quarantined at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital after developing symptoms of COVID-19 disease and are now under close monitoring by the health officials.
It’s reported that the seven people escaped screening at the Entebbe International Airport while entering the country from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Dr Mark Jjuuko, the head of the emergency department at Masaka Hospital on Sunday evening said that all the suspected quarantined Coronavirus persons are Ugandans, three men and four women.
In his remarks, Jjuuko said the health team drew their blood samples and sent to the Uganda Virus Institute in Entebbe to find out whether the group has Coronavirus infection or not and within 24 hours the results will be out according to their expectations.
“We expect results within 24 hours. From our interaction with them, some claim they have been doing self-isolation at home and other family members could not be at a risk,” Jjuuko said.
Reports say 3 of them entered the country on March 20; the other two entered on the 17 and 18 respectively while the other two women checked in on March 21 but were identified and isolated as soon as they got out of the tax in Masaka Town.
The Masaka Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Herman Ssentongo said that some of the people were picked from their homes after receiving information from residents.
“One of them (travellers) was heard telling a colleague that when one pays some money, he can easily dodge the quarantine at Entebbe and come straight to the village and that is what he exactly did,” Ssentongo said.
Minister of Health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng recently issued guidelines requiring all travellers to undergo mandatory quarantine of 14 days at their costs at designated areas to curb the deadly virus from spreading.
Those quarantined at Entebbe Central Inn protested the 100 USD initial charges per day claiming it was too much which were then revised to 55 USD per day.
Dr Stuart Musisi, the Masaka District Officer asked Masaka residents to be more vigilant and avoid crowded places, wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to fight the deadly coronavirus in the country.
“If we already have a confirmed case of Coronavirus in Uganda, our people need to be more vigilant and ensure that they wash their hands regularly,” Musisi said.
This comes after Uganda recorded its first COVID-19 case on Sunday morning the 22, March 2020.
Addressing the nation, Dr Aceng said the confirmed case is a Ugandan national resident of Kakungulu zone, a Kampala suburb aged 36 who had travelled to Dubai for a business trip on the 17th, March 2020 and returned on the 21, March 2020 at around 2 am aboard Ethiopian Airlines and during the screening process, his temperatures jumped to 38.7 which raised suspicion.
The whole world is on shutdown, most countries have already locked their borders and cities to control further spread.
Yesterday the President of the Republic of Uganda during an address to the nation on Sunday evening directed that the Airport be closed by Midnight and only cargo planes and cargo truck not exceeding two people be allowed into the country and all the countries borders be closed as well.
Starting today no person will be granted exit or entry into the country as one of the measures directed by the president to curb the deadly virus.
Over 1800 foreigners and nationals are under quarantine in Ugandan, but some of them are already widening up their quarantine.
Latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) at least 294,110 contracted the virus, 12,944 have died, and over 84,000 have recovered from the disease.
Italy the epicentre of the COVID-19 after China on March 22, 2020, reported 5,476 deaths.
China reported 39 new cases, all of them imported and nine additional deaths after spending three days without reporting any new coronavirus case, while South Korea reported 64 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the country’s total to 8,961 cases.
