KAMPALA – The Ministry of Health on Wednesday, 09 December 2020, confirmed 1,199 new cases of Covid-19 and 12 deaths, the highest ever recorded in the country.
The cases were registered from 8,223 samples.
Of the 12 COVID-19 deaths, 9 occurred between December 4 and 5 while the other 3 occurred on Wednesday.
This puts the number of cumulative deaths at 219 and cumulative confirmed cases at 25,059.
Of the cases, Kampala registered 414; Wakiso 252 and Kabarole (75). Others are Kasese (57), Masaka (49), Luwero (37), Mbarara (34), Isingiro (31), Soroti (27), Kabale (22), Kalaki (17), and Tororo (17), among others.
This comes as the government confirmed 701 cases on Monday and 660 on Tuesday.
Health experts say that these figures are just an indicator of where the disease is and not how many people might be infected. It is estimated that as many as 5 million cases or even more are not being detected.
Dr Monica Musenero, an epidemiologist and also a senior presidential advisor, says the country is only detecting 10 to 15 per cent of the positive cases in the country.
“The cases we are reporting do not reflect the number of people that are infected with the disease. They are an indicator of where the disease might be,” she said.
Due to the on-going political campaigns, Musenero says the country should expect the rate of infection to increase.
“Some parts of the country have not been reporting cases, but this is going to change. People from Kampala and other parts of the country are going to carry the virus to villages and small towns during these campaigns,” she said.
Dr Charles Olaro, the Director of Curative Services at the ministry of health says that with the high number of undetected cases, it is important for everyone to be cautious.
“All need to be cautious now. Wear a mask and treat everyone like a potential positive COVID-19 case because the disease is everywhere now. There’s no safe place, “he says.
