Uganda announces bold measures to curb coronavirus

Although Uganda has yet to record a confirmed case of the coronavirus, the country has announced bold measures to limit the risk of spreading the virus, probably because all the surrounding countries have already recorded confirmed cases of the virus.

Addressing the nation on the coronavirus issue on Wednesday from the State House in Entebbe, Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, announced closure of all the learning institutions including primary and secondary schools, universities and tertiary institutions for one month starting from March 20, as part of the preventive measures against the epidemic.

Museveni said the country has a total of 10.7 million children in primary schools, 2 million children in preprimary schools, 2 million students in secondary schools, and 314,548 students in universities and tertiary institutions.

"I have decided to close the educational institutions even before the occurrence of a single coronavirus incident because I have observed the situation in other countries," Museveni said.

The president also suspended all religious gatherings for a month with immediate effect and advised the religious leaders to broadcast their preaching through television and radio.

Museveni also banned political or cultural meetings for a period of 32 days and issued travel restrictions to high risk countries including Italy, France, South Korea, China, USA, United Kingdom and Netherlands among others.

"Foreigners going to those countries are free to do so, provided they do not intend to come back within the prohibited time," he said.

The Ugandan citizens coming back from abroad will be put in a mandatory quarantine in a designated place but they will pay the cost of their institutional quarantine like food.

"If they want to avoid that inconvenience or cost, they can sit out the storm in the country of their temporary abode," Museveni said.

The president said nonagricultural workplaces including factories, hotels, large plantations, markets and taxi-parks among others, should continue functioning but with standard operating procedures stipulated by the Ministry of Health.

They should observe compulsory hand-washing, deny access to people showing symptoms of sickness, and install temperature monitors.

Museveni said burials will only be limited to the nearby relatives as opposed to traditional crowds of relatives, neighbors and friends.

However, if the deceased is suspected of dying from the coronavirus, the state will take over and bury the person in the scientific way without the involvement of the family.

Museveni said Uganda has a large number of vulnerable people including seniors and those suffering from tuberculosis, HIV, diabetes and hypertension among others.

Uganda has 1.4 million people living with HIV, 80,000 with diabetes, 4.8 million with hypertension, and 100,000 getting infected by TB per year.

"We must do everything possible to ensure that this enemy does not come here, and does not find plenty of dry grass piled up and ready for flaming. The dry grass that can help to start and sustain fire of a coronavirus epidemic is big masses of people, gathered together and in close proximity," he said.

Museveni said public transport operators should be given mandatory standard operating procedures by the Ministry of Health including: hand-washing, not allowing sick people on board, and monitoring temperatures.

"With these precautions, public transport will continue. However, in the event of an outbreak in a given locality, public transport in that area will be forbidden and the area will be isolated," he said.

Museveni assured Ugandans that the country is fully prepared for any eventuality of coronavirus outbreak, in terms of testing capacity, availability of face masks and hand sanitizers.