On Thursday, the Minister for Kampala, Ms. Betty Amongi said that Namaganda and Galilaaya arcades registered on case each, adding that scientists are studying the two shopping malls. The two registered cases came in through alerts from the community, and other came in while tracing their contacts and where they worked, hence the patients indicated the arcades.
Recently, there has been a rise in the number Covid-19 cases and deaths in Kampala, following the lifting of some of the lock down restrictions. The minister also said that the hotpots in Kampala are arcades, public and private transport, workplaces and slum areas.
Ms. Amongi said,” We have had 50 percent increase in Kampala, workplaces are a major risk factor. Many of the people (using public transport) who are testing positive, have either moved in taxis or used boda bodas, and this area, tracking has become very complicated because the same taxis usually take three or five routes in a day.”
(https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Two-Kampala-arcades-register-Covid19- cases/688334-5608834-rpqf93z/index.html)
According to the minister, the registered number of positive cases have come from the slum areas such as Kisenyi, which are very risky due to high population density, and yet there is still no compliance with the guidelines.
As regards work places, some of the workplaces that have registered positive cases include Eagle Holdings, Megha Industries and Toyota Uganda.
“We have also got one person who is an aspiring political candidate whom we got through alerts. He got in a taxi. When we traced the activities he was doing, he said he spent about two days on Nasser Road making posters, “the minister said. (https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Two-Kampala-arcades-register-Covid19-
As of yesterday, there have been 104 Covid-19 cases registered with eight deaths, in Kampala, having it second to Amuru District, whose cases stand at 116.
With reference to the what the Health Minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, has said over the past three weeks, there has been an emergence of cases largely from previously unknown transmission lines in Kampala and parts of Wakiso districts.
Aceng said,” Of the cases registered in Kampala,56 is imported (55 returnees, one truck driver) while 104 are locally transmitted (35 contacts, 47 alerts, 20 health workers). In relation to the cases in Kampala,79 cases have been reported in the last 14 days.” (https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Two-Kampala-arcades-register-Covid19-
This has therefore led to invention of a comprehensive strategy for Kampala, and it will be released next week. This was said by Ms. Amongi as she gave her speech.
Therefore, with the surge in the number of Covid-19 cases, and following the non- compliance with the Covid-19 guidelines by the public, President Museveni has appointed a multi-sectoral technical task force to help coordinate all sectors, institutions and organizations to follow up on enforcement of the presidential directives.
The appointed task force is chaired by Gen. Geoffrey Muheesi rom Uganda People’s Defense Force, deputized by Dr. Monica Musenero, the senior presidential adviser on epidemics and Dr. Ario Alex, who is the director of National Institute of Public Health.
The duties of this taskforce are to strengthen multi-sectoral coordination of Covid-19 related response activities and facilitate linkages across and between all sectors. They are also supposed to coordinate multi-sectoral approach to safe and dignified burials (SBD), with close collaboration with Uganda Red Cross Society so as to support the districts to undertake SBD according to the Sops, among others.
So far 59 districts have registered Covid-19 cases, including Arua, Lamwo and Lira.Uganda has registered 1,353 Covid-19 cases, with 1,141 recoveries and 11 deaths, by Thursday.
