Four more truck drivers have tested positive for COVID-19 in Uganda, according to the ministry of Health. This brings the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 126.
Two of the confirmed cases are Ugandan nationals while the other two are of Kenyan and Tanzanian national. The Kenyan and Ugandans are believed to have entered the country from South Sudan through the Elegu point of entry while the Tanzanian case was tested at Matukula.
The four cases were part of 1,478 samples of truck drivers that were tested by the Uganda Virus Research Institute. So far, Uganda has tested more than 10,000 truck drivers. A total of 1,711 samples were tested and all the 233 community samples tested negative.
The testing of truck drivers as well as the identification and tracking of positive cases has been an issue of contention among many Ugandans with the fear that the drivers will lead to spreading of the disease.
The presidents of East African countries today agreed on a number of conditions for handling the COVID-19 outbreak in the community. One of the issues agreed upon was the development of a harmonized system for certification and sharing of COVID-19 test results.
Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni of Rwanda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Salva Kiir of South Sudan said in a communique that truck drivers must be tested from point of origin. Curiously missing from the meeting were the presidents of Tanzania and Burundi who have resisted calls for total lockdowns.
On Tuesday, Kenya registered 15 new cases and 3 new deaths to take total deaths to 36 and total confirmed cases to 715. Rwanda recorded one more new case out of the 574 samples tested to take its national tally to 286.
The country also registered 3 more recoveries to increase its recovered cases to 153. To date, Rwanda has so far tested 43,379 samples.
Source
