The Uganda Ministry of Health is set to commence its plans of conducting more community surveys to identify hidden COVID-19 cases.
The Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH) is set to commence its plans of conducting more community surveys in a bid to identify individuals who are infected with the coronavirus but are unaware or have gone into hiding.
This comes at a time when Uganda has now registered up to 770 COVID-19 cases after seven more people tested positive for the virus among samples tested on Saturday countrywide.
Five of the new cases were contacts and alerts from Kyotera (three) and Amuru (two) while the other two were Ugandan truck drivers from Elegu and Malaba border points.
As of today, a total of 578 people have been discharged from different referral hospitals after they recovered from the coronavirus while no particular individual has yet succumbed to the virus.
According to MOH, Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwine the survey is part of the government’s plan to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus that is still claiming millions of lives globally.
As a result, Dr Atwine said that Uganda as a country is determined to identify all those particular individuals who might have contracted the virus and gone into hiding or are unaware because they may not show any signs of the coronavirus.
“We want to carry out another community survey because we have begun getting pockets of positive cases. We want to know where these cases are,” Dr Atwine said while presenting an account for the money the MOH has so far spent during the struggle against the COVID-19.
She said that in a bid to have these surveys carried out within notable communities around the country effectively, the Ministry needs about 40,000 testing kits.
Last month, the Ministry carried out initial assessments in different parts of the country which revealed that there were no worrying signs of community contractions and infections with research indicating that the possibility of community transmissions in the country standing at 0.003 per cent.
The research also showed that over 23,000 people were tested for COVID-19 as part of the assessment which targeted people in 50 border districts more so the susceptible groups including taxi drivers, LDUs, security personnel, religious leaders, health workers and fishermen.
Meanwhile, the health ministry, released it’s accountability for COVID-19 funds and donations yesterday. According to the Ministry, they were enhanced with a budget of Shs104.188b.
Of the total amount, Shs82.562b was meant to cater for the recruitment of 250 additional healthcare personnel; meet the cost of transportation and accommodation of staff; meet the welfare requirements for healthcare staff and patients; accommodation and welfare for patients under quarantine; and provide protective gear, including face masks, gloves and sanitisers.
The money was also meant to cater for the provision of test kits, increase the number of intensive care beds and support with the restoration of oxygen facilities at Mulago and other referral hospitals countrywide.
