KAMPALA – Coronavirus cases in Uganda have risen to 1000 on Thursday, July 9, 2020, hitting the 1000-mark even as the government intensified efforts to prevent a further spread of the infections. This is after the Ministry of Health announced that 23 people had tested positive for the disease from 3,316 samples analyzed on Wednesday, July 8.
12 of the confirmed cases are among returnees while three are among truck drivers. Eight other cases were picked from communities among contacts and alerts.
The Ministry of Health says all the 12 returnees are Ugandan nationals that entered the country in the past two weeks. Eight of them are from Afghanistan, three from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and one from South Sudan.
As Uganda hit the 1,000-mark today, the African continent yesterday surpassed the 500,000-mark with over 11,900 death recorded.
According to the World Health Organisation, such increases on the African continent will likely weaken health systems.
Uganda’s most stringent preventive measure has been instituting the lockdown. However since it was lifted, Dr. Musenero says life is back to normal for many people.
“The lockdown worked for us where hand washing and usage of masks has failed. Since we lifted the lockdown reported cases have been increasing and they will continue to increase because many people are not bothered,” she said.
It has taken 109 days for the country to hit four-digit numbers of reported cases. According to Musenero, if nothing is done to make the public more aware about the disease, today’s milestone might be the beginning of a scenario where more cases will be reported on a daily basis which will lead the country to hit the 10,000 marks quicker than it took to hit the 1,000.
