Uganda has not registered any death related to the novel CoronaVirus, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng the Health Minister has said. The country however still have 44 confirmed cases.
Dr. Aceng revealed this while updating the country on the COVID-19 fight, at UBC this morning.
The minister also revealed that the 44 cases are of people who traveled mainly from the UAE (14), U.K (14), Germany (1), USA (1), Afghanistan (1) and China (2).
She however added that some districts have also registered confirmed cases including; Hoima (2), Masaka (3), Adjumani (1), Iganga (1) and it remains unclear if these were secondary to ongoing active transmission.
These are all receiving medical attention at Entebbe Grade B Hospital, Mulago National Specialized Hospital, Adjumani and Hoima hospitals.
“All patients presented with mild symptoms and are improving on treatment. I would also like to reiterate that Uganda has NOT registered any COVID-19 related death, contrary to some social media posts” she clarified.
A total of 2,661 travelers have been identified for either self-quarantine or institutional quarantine since January 2020. 1,015 high risk travelers are currently under institutional quarantine. A total of 660 contacts to 33 confirmed cases have been identified and are being followed up.
Dr. Aceng explained that due to the large numbers of Ugandans returning home from countries that were closing up, COVID-19 got into the country.
“Many of these returning travelers integrated into communities undetected largely because they had no symptoms (High temperature) at the time. This in turn dictated a change in strategy, from prevention of importation to suppression of transmission” she noted.
It at this point that explained that the lock down is supposed to suppress transmission by reducing the number of people any undetected yet positive case in the community.
“We know from evidence across other countries that extreme social distancing is an effective intervention to interrupt transmission and keep other uninfected members of society healthy.
In the 14 days of lockdown, government will rapidly find and test suspected cases and this will be done through two days; tracking travelers who came from the category 1 countries between 7th to 22nd March 2020, confirmed cases be isolated and duly treated and all contacts of the new confirmed cases will be traced, found, tested and duly institutionally quarantined for further follow up and testing.
Government will also test those under institutional quarantine to weed out asymptomatic cases and institute more strict quarantine measures.
It will also strengthen the available systems to ensure that people who suddenly manifest symptoms re picked up and well managed so as to improve the outcomes and or minimize deaths.
