Uganda Ranked among Top 10 Countries in Suppressing COVID-19

Medical journal-The Lancet has ranked Uganda among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of suppressing the spread of COVID-19 as of August 2020.

According to CNN, the ranking was based on the number of new coronavirus cases per million population per day, averaged over the 31 days of August, of countries with “sufficient data,” The Lancet COVID-19 Commission said in a report published on September 14. It explained that the newly confirmed infections are “the most straightforward measure of the rate of transmission of the virus.” The Commission said a country was able to curb the spread of the virus in August if it only had five or fewer cases per million population a day, provided that it conducted “at least 20 tests per new case,” which is considered “ample” testing.

According to the report, Uganda under the stewardship of President Yoweri Museveni ranked the 10th best country in suppressing the spread of coronavirus. As of September 23, Uganda had 6,879 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 with only 69 deaths since the virus was first reported in the country in March this year. Nearly 3,000 Ugandans have recovered from the virus which has killed close to a million people in the globe.

The top 10 countries according to Lancet are; Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Malaysia, New Zealand and Uganda.

Lancet also ranked the worst countries with the highest new cases as of August. These are; Maldives, Panama, Colombia, Bahrain, Brazil, Israel, Argentina, USA, Kuwait, Spain and Bolivia.

In March, President Museveni announced a major country lockdown after the first case of coronavirus disease was confirmed. The lockdown affected nearly all sectors such as education, recreational centres, transport system, social, political and religious gatherings etc. It is until last week that Museveni announced the schools and churches among other institutions would finally reopen.