President Yoweri Museveni on Sunday ordered the closure of all schools and suspended inter-district movement, in the latest raft of measures aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus, as Uganda deals with a second wave of the pandemic.
Warning that the COVID-19 situation has ‘drastically changed for the worse’ and that prevention is the key strategy now, Museveni told the nation in his latest COVID-19 update that all schools and institutions of learning must close for 42 days effective Monday, June 7, 2021 at 8am.
Communal prayers have also been suspended for 42 days as has inter-district movement in the latest anti-coronavirus strategy informed by the national task force, who met with the President to chart a way forward amid a more aggressive resurgence of the virus.
Most critically, Museveni warned that if the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the health ministry are not observed within the next seven days, he will enforce a total lockdown.
President Museveni says SOPs must be observed or else he will enforce a total lockdown
President Museveni says SOPs must be observed or else he will enforce a total lockdown.
Take note of the new measures below, as announced by President Museveni:
1. All schools and institutions of higher learning to close for 42 days from June 7, 2021 starting 8am.
2. All teachers to fully be vaccinated before being accepted in schools.
3. Prayers in churches, mosques suspended for 42 days. Pray from home.
4. Public and cultural gatherings suspended for 42 days except Judiciary, Executive and Legislature meetings.
5. Travel from Category A countries suspended, except for returning Ugandans. India currently only country in this category.
6. Agriculture activities to continue unhindered.
7. Non-agricultural activities like malls, supermarkets, construction, to continue with SOPs.
8. Factories, hotels, taxi parks to operate under strict SOPs.
9. Weddings allowed with 20 people maximum with SOPs. House parties are banned.
10. Burials, vigils should not exceed 20 mourners.
11. Weekly open-air markets, cattle auction markets suspended for 42 days.
12. All public transport between and across districts suspended for 42 days effective June 10, 2021.
13. Inter-district travel stopped for 42 days except within Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono. Exemption are cargo trucks, tourist vehicles, essential and emergency service vehicles.
14. Public transport within same district allowed but with SOPs.
15. Cargo trucks allowed to carry two people.
16. Sports can go on but without spectators.
17. 30% physical presence at office for 42 days. Appoint a compliance person.
18. Not more than three people in private vehicles including driver. They also don’t move across districts.
19. Arcades, hardware shops, to operate under SOPs, and close at 7pm. Owners to be held liable for breach. Pharmacies to be exempted.
21. Salons, lodges, garages to operate till 7pm. Bars, however, should not operate. Drunkards can’t understand SOPs.
22. Curfew stays at 9pm to 5.30am and vigorously enforced.
23. Health emergencies during curfew to be attended to by security.
24. Bodas can carry one passenger at a time and cease operation at 7pm.
‘A real problem’
Museveni’s address came in the wake of a second wave that has swept across Uganda, with authorities coming out to warn against complacency.
‘In this second wave, we have got more numbers in two weeks than we got in four months previously,’ said the President.
Figures displayed during his address showed that the most affected age group in this current wave (from March 2021 to date) are the young people, with the 30-39ers shown to have registered the highest number of cases, followed by the 20-29 age bracket.
‘It is becoming a real problem,’ warned Museveni.
It is understood that based on the data, the situation is expected to further escalate because of poor compliance of SOPs and the increasing number of clusters of infections in schools.
As many as 948 coronavirus cases have been reported in 43 schools from 22 districts, with Kampala, Gulu, Masaka and Oyam districts topping the list.
‘Take personal responsibility’
Museveni said the reasons behind this number include poor compliance to SOPs, failure in some schools to monitor signs and symptons among learners, as well as concealment of data by some school authorities.
He said the variants are ‘more aggressive’ and are causing a shift in infections to the younger age groups.
As of Sunday 126 cases have reportedly been recorded among travellers coming in through Entebbe International Airport, with mandatory PCR testing done upon entry.
Meanwhile, sustained transmission within communities has been due to failure to adhere to the principles of home-based care, including separation from family members and wearing of masks.
The President said there is general laxity in districts yet the district task forces should be the bedrock of the national response in the fight against the pandemic.
‘The virus can only be stopped if all the people of Uganda can take personal responsibility for protecting themselves – their families and where they work,’ said Museveni.
Uganda’s latest stats
Meanwhile, results from the COVID-19 tests conducted on Friday, June 4 confirmed 1,259 new cases, with nine deaths – another statistical high.
As of Sunday, June 6, a total of 383 have officially succumbed to coronavirus in Uganda, and a cumulative 52,935 cases confirmed. Information from the health ministry indicates that there are 634 active cases on admission in health facilities.
‘Virus has no discrimination’
Outgoing Minister of State for Primary Healthcare, Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu, said the virus in the second wave has emerged with many characteristics, ‘spreading rapidly – like a bushfire’.
‘It is very severe. It has no discrimination – whether you are a child or a young adolescent, it does not spare you at all.
Kaducu said the best option to slow the virus is vaccination.
Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, the outgoing State Minister of Health for General Duties, admitted that the virus ‘is giving us a headache as a country’.
He talked of a combination of non-observance of SOPs because of complacency and the emergence of the variants as having worsened matters.
A four-million target
To this day, at least 700,000 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Uganda.
Some of these have since received their second shot, including President Museveni and the First Lady Janet Museveni. The First Couple took their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, June 3, after which the President rallied Ugandans to get vaccinated.
‘We started with the high-risk groups, such as health workers, teachers, the elderly, security and people with comorbidities. Our target is to cover four million people,’ he said.
A comorbidity is a disease or medical condition that is simultaneously present with another or others in a patient.
A global picture
As of 1pm Ugandan time Sunday, June 6, AFP reported that the novel coronavirus had killed at least 3,723,381 people around the world since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.
That statistic was based on a tally from official sources compiled by the news agency.
Globally, more than 172 million cases of coronavirus have been registered to this day. Most of these have recovered, although some, according to AFP, ‘have continued to experience symptoms weeks or even months later’.
The news agency says the figures are based on daily reports provided by health authorities in each country and that ‘they exclude revisions made by other statistical organisations, which show that the number of deaths is much higher’.
A self-testing kit for the coronavirus at the UBO University of Western Brittany in Brest, western France.
A self-testing kit for the coronavirus at the UBO University of Western Brittany in Brest, western France.
Comments are closed.