KAMPALA — President Yoweri Museveni has Saturday May 29 addressed the nation on the status of COVID-19 in Uganda after the Ministry of Health announced that there is a second wave sweeping across the nation.
The President sounded a warning to the whole country that: “we are entering a very dangerous phase”.
Museveni said the National taskforce on coronavirus will meet next week to outline the new measures to contain what is said to be a second COVID-19 wave that has hit the country.
“Today, I am here to alert you about the COVID-19 situation in the country. We are going to have a task force meeting on Wednesday to fully discuss how we can handle the situation,” he said, appealing to the population to stay safe.
The President added that: “When we speak next week, we shall go through the details of the “DOs” and the “DON’Ts” during this wave of COVID-19. When we do that, I expect everyone to cooperate”.
Museveni said he has been briefed by scientists that the new variants are very serious and that they are of different “clans”.
“There’s the South African clan, the UK clan and the Indian one. These are also affecting children. 803 cases have been found in schools. One student has died”.
He also said the COVID-19 problem is majorly in Kampala and Wakiso, noting that this is because they do not listen.
“If you are out of Kampala and Wakiso, try to stay where you are. Avoid the capital”.
He however said the situation is not yet dire and can still be managed.
“If we behave, we may be able to manage it. For most of the country, there is no Corona. There are areas where cases have not been reported. The whole of the western region has very few cases”.
The President warned against flouting the guidelines.
“All the measures that we put up have been ignored. I told you that when we vaccinate 4.8 million people, then we can relax the measures. I am not sure anymore whether that number still stands”.
Uganda has recorded 700 new infections on Saturday. This takes the cumulative number of COVID-19 infections in Uganda to 45,931. According to the Ministry of Health, these are a result of COVID-19 tests done on Thursday (May 27, 2021).
Dr Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Health recently hinted at the need for another lockdown, especially in places with the highest infections.
The health ministry says the number of severely and critically ill COVID-19 patients is rising much faster than during the first wave of the disease.
