Uganda bans travel to and from China to curb the spread of coronavirus
The government of Uganda has announced restrictions on the entry and exit of Ugandans and Chinese nationals intending to travel to and from China to curb the spread of the Coronavirus although no case has so far been reported.
The announcement was made on the floor of Parliament yesterday Wednesday 29th, January 2020, by the State Minister of Health in charge of general duties, Robinah Nabanja.
Nabanja presented measures the government has put in place to curb the deadly Coronavirus which had led to the death of hundreds around the world.
Minister Nabanja revealed that the government has engaged the Chinese medical team with measures put in place to restrict the possible spread of the deadly disease.
“Note is given to their community (Chinese) to delay their return to Uganda until the situation is in control. And for those in Uganda not to travel to China,” Nabanja said.
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The government also warned the KASITA business community from travelling and conducting business ventures in China until the situation cools.
“We are discouraging our Ugandan citizens not to move to those other countries, where the virus is, it’s deadly,” Nabanja cautioned.
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Two isolation centres have been set up one at Entebbe General Hospital and another at Naguru China Friendship Hospital to house any suspected Coronavirus case after being detected at Entebbe International Airport amidst an influx of travellers from China and other affected countries into Uganda.
Dr Eyul James, Aviation Public Health Specialist says an isolation unit which is a 10m drive from the Airport was inevitable.
“It’s 10 minutes away from here (Entebbe International Airport), so immediately we get a suspect we have confirmed we exploit the suspect and put the suspect in an infectious ambulance and drive 10m away to the isolation unit,” Dr Eyul said.
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Eyul says while conducting the exercise they make sure that they are safe because the virus is contagious causing respiratory infections.
“We put on a mask, when we are screening Ebola we are not putting on a mask. But we decided to mask ourselves as more and more information about this new virus came by, because by somebody coughing on your face you may get it directly. And even you see we are putting on gloves, t
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Eyul adds that they have secured a scanner to identify all persons with high temperatures, a sign of Coronavirus.
“immediately the passengers arrive, the thermo-scan, it’s a very powerful machine this one, picks the temperatures of everybody. As it detects the temperature, we can identify someone who is having a temperature of more than 37.4 degrees Celsius.”
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However, Eyul says one challenge about the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) virus is that it has a long incubation period with others taking up to 10 days
“The incubation period so far has been confirmed between 2 to 10 days. Some people interact very early, and people it will take 10 days, and so far the case mortality has been a little bit low according to the information coming through but it breaks you down and you get sick fo
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Coronavirus has so far spread across China and to at least 16 countries with 7,814 confirmed cases and 170 deaths.
Several countries have already put travel restrictions in and outside China, Uganda is yet to get there. This means the government has a lot to do in educating Ugandans on the possible signs and symptoms of the Coronavirus.
Among the countries affected by the coronavirus, includes; Thailand with 14 cases, Hong Kong 10 cases, the United States of America, Taiwan, Australia and Macau have 5 cases each; Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia each have reported 4 cases; japan has 11 cases, France has 5 cases; German has 4 cases; Nepal, Cambodia, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates each have 1 case.
