The question of how prepared Uganda is to handle mass infections still raises question marks as COVID-19 cases reach 122.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed one new COVID-19 case from a total of 2,854 samples tested yesterday at the Uganda Virus Research Institute as worries of dealing with mass infections arise.
The new case is of a Ugandan truck driver who arrived from Juba via Elegu and he tested positive from 2,296 samples of truck drivers.
According to the MOH, a total of 558 samples tested among the community members all returned negative.
“One new COVID-19 case confirmed from 2,296 samples of truck drivers. The new case is a Ugandan truck driver who arrived from Juba via Elegu. All 558 community samples tested negative for COVID-19,” a statement from the Ministry read.
This now brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Uganda to 122 with 55 recoveries and no single deaths have since been reported from the virus. Active cases in Uganda are now 30.
As of today, the health ministry has carried out 61,460 tests countrywide and 861 individuals have since been discharged from institutional quarantine.
Up to 18,128 travellers have since been identified together with a total of 3,908 contacts of which 1452 are still under follow up and 2080 have finished their 14 days follow up.
Is Uganda ready to deal with mass infections?
Meanwhile, as the deadly coronavirus first discovered in Wuhan, China continues to claim lives globally, Uganda is lucky to be among the few countries that are still yet to register any deaths from it.
During his recent address to the nation on May 4th, President Museveni attributed the issue of registering no deaths from the virus yet to the few confirmed COVID 19 cases in Uganda then.
At the time of his speech, Uganda had way less than 100 cases and the President who commended the doctors and health workers in different referral hospitals for their good job said they also found it easy treating the very few COVID 19 patients.
Museveni explained that most of the patients took close to 16 days to heal from the virus because the doctors put too much focus on them but also the facilities available were enough to accommodate them all at the same time.
But now days have gone by and the COVID-19 cases in Uganda have risen to 122. Globally, many countries have already experienced situations where the patients are extremely more than the doctors and facilities available and the results speak volumes.
The question of how prepared Uganda is to handle these growing numbers of infections still raises question marks. In most developed countries including the US, China, Italy and Spain among others, these mass infections have resulted in thousands of deaths.
The World Health Ministry last week, raised caution that the coronavirus pandemic could claim up to 190,000 lives on the African continent in case African countries do not take the right direction in controlling it’s spread.
According to WHO’s explanation, the African continent has over the years proven susceptible to poverty and unemployment as well as the poor health facilities which could be exposed in times of mass infections.
