The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has sharply disagreed with president Museveni’s of locking down citizens in avoidance of Covid19 spread but allow truck drivers to infect the already hungry/malnourished citizens all in the name supplies.
In fact, the speaker is now calling on Government to either stop the movement of truck drivers who are infected with Coronavirus (COVID-19) or lift the lockdown, instead of letting poor Ugandans suffer inside their houses.
While speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Kadaga told the House that Ugandans are concerned about government’s decision to continue keeping them locked inside their houses yet they are not infected, while the same government allows truck drivers, many of whom are infected with COVID-19, to continue moving freely around the country, all in the name of supplies.
“It is disturbing to note that the bulk of the new #COVID-19 cases are from truck drivers. Ugandan locked in their homes are not moving, but truck drivers who are testing positive are going about normal life. Ugandans are concerned about this and I am concerned too,” Speaker Kadaga told Parliament.
However, despite the increase in infections, the Ministry of Health has put in place isolation centers and testing points at all Uganda’s border points to ensure that all truck drivers who test positive for COVID-19 are quickly isolated.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Uganda has risen to 203 after 43 truck drivers tested positive. This is the highest number of infections that the country has recorded in one day.
The new cases are part of the 1,838 samples from truck drivers that were tested on Friday. They include 17 Ugandans, 14 Kenyans, 5 Tanzanians, 2 Burundians, 4 Eritreans, and one other whose nationality is unknown. They arrived via Mutukula, Malaba, and Elegu borders. Further details about the positive cases are yet to be released by the Health Ministry.
The total number of truck drivers who have so far tested positive for Covid-19 in Uganda is 143. Meanwhile all the 720 community samples tested negative for COVID-19.