Confirmed coronavirus cases in Uganda have risen to 98 after a 27-year-old Kenyan truck driver tested positive for COVID-19 according to the ministry of Health. A total of 2,632 samples were tested on Tuesday, and of these, all the 464 community samples tested negative.
Neighbouring Kenya recorded its most confirmed cases in a single day since the outbreak. Out of the 1,077 samples tested, 45 people tested positive for the coronavirus disease, rising the cumulative total to 535.
Kenya has now overtaken Tanzania as East Africa's most infected country but it's important to note is that Tanzania has not released any updates since last week on Wednesday.
Information from Tanzania is highly guarded and President John Magufuli on Monday, suspended the head of the national health laboratory in charge of testing a day after the president revealed on Sunday that samples from birds, sheep, pawpaw deliberately disguised as human samples had too tested positive for COVID-19.
Likewise, there were no updates from Rwanda on Tuesday but their confirmed cases still stand at 261 confirmed with 129 recoveries and no deaths. There were no updates from Burundi either whose cases still stand at 15 and one death with 7 recoveries.
Meanwhile, Kenya started offering free testing for the coronavirus in densely populated, high-risk areas of Nairobi but the ministry of Health says that so far, it's been a low turnout. The testing, which kicked off Friday and continues this week, has uncovered dozens of new positive cases.
On Monday morning, 25-year-old Martin Wakwayika was one of the hundreds in Eastleigh, a neighbourhood in Nairobi's central business district, who turned up at a temporary ministry of Health stand to get tested for the coronavirus.
Having recorded more than 50 coronavirus cases, Eastleigh is one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Nairobi that Kenya's ministry of Health warned might be a coronavirus hotspot. The ministry on Friday began mass testing in the targeted areas, with hundreds of residents like Wakweyika volunteering themselves for testing.
"I went to get tested to know if I was OK," Eastleigh said. "I have two children in the house and I am always out working, so I had to know if I am OK."
Another hotspot where dozens more positive cases were confirmed in the past week is the neighborhood of Kawangware. Hundreds queued for testing at a primary school in the area on Monday, but thousands more such as Connie Mwana chose to stay home.
"When you get to those quarantine facilities, the chances of contracting COVID-19 are high, because of the way people are staying in the facilities. For example sanitation is not good, people are sharing washrooms, picking individuals and taking them by force to these quarantine facilities has made people fear," she said.
Mwana said she cannot risk exposing her kids to quarantine if she was to test positive. She hopes if she has the virus, it may pass as a flu without her noticing.
But thinking like that will allow the virus to spread, said ministry official Rashid Aman at a news conference Sunday.
"The outcome of the testing so far has shown a low turnout in some of these areas. In the last two days, the testing teams have tested 803 against a target of 2,000 in Kawangware, 494 in Eastleigh against a target of 3,000. I want to remind Kenyans that there are countries that people beg to be tested yet their governments are unable to do so. As of now the Ministry of Health has acquired the testing capacity to undertake targeted testing, but the willingness of the people to be tested is low," he said.
Part of the problem may be that those who are found positive are charged for the tests, and have to send two weeks in quarantine at a government facility.
The cost of quarantine, which is also charged to the patient, is $20 per day, much more than the daily wage of most people in the slum areas where the mass tests are being conducted. In an effort to encouraging more testing, the Ministry of Health on Monday said the government will cover the fees of patients who show they cannot afford the cost.
Source
