Ugandan returnees quarantined at Sheraton Kampala hotel have sought the intervention of parliament after the ministry of Health extended their quarantine by three days.
They are part of the more than 800 Ugandans and legal residents who returned from Afghanistan, India, Southern Africa, Ireland and the United Kingdom, among other countries, since June 22. As a condition for their return, they were advised to stay in quarantine for 14 days, and only go home after confirming that they are not infected with COVID-19.
The group has already exhausted the 14 mandatory days of quarantine after their arrival into the country. But they must endure another three days of confinement while waiting for the ministry of Health to undertake confirmatory COVID-19 tests before releasing them.
The group has since sent an appeal to the speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga seeking an intervention to end the confinement, saying that many of them had not budgeted for the extra days and have since run out of money to sustain their stay away from home.
It was not immediately clear if a positive coronavirus case was confirmed from the returnees at Sheraton to warranty the extra 3 days. Emmanuel Ainebyona, the spokesperson ministry of Health says that they are being held for extra days because the ministry is awaiting results from the second samples that were recently taken from them.
"They will be released anytime soon as long as their samples get back. Although they tested negative the first time, they will need to wait for their second result and they will be released," Ainebyona.
Last week, another group of returnees which is quarantines in Entebbe led a protest against spending more than 14 days in institutional quarantine. The returnees, through a one, Ivan Bwowe, a lawyer who returned from Ireland, wrote to the ministry of Health challenging the extra days. In his letter, he stated that they will have no contractual obligation with the quarantine centre at the end of the 14th day. He said many of them only budgeted for the days that they were told before boarding planes to Uganda.
Two other returnees, who preferred anonymity said that they have already spent so much in airfares to return home. One says that they have spent over Shs 8 million on travel costs and will pay over more than Shs 3 million on quarantine at a cost of Shs 170,000 a day. According to the Uganda Virus Research Institute, scientifically, if the people under quarantine did not mix and were locked up in their rooms all the time and tested negative for coronavirus, they should be cleared to go.
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