Government through the Minister for Information Communication, Technology and National Guidance Judith Nabakooba has called for individual responsibility in the fight against Covid-19.
Nabakooba who was addressing journalists at Media Center on Monday said that, although the country has entered into the second wave of Covid-19, there is still alot of unseriousness in the public. She added that Coronavirus is spreading widely and almost making it impossible to trace the source of new infections.
“This phase means that the virus is spreading widely and tracing the new sources of new infections as become very impossible. As a country, we take pride in the leadership of our country, the Ministry of Health and the National Taskforce that have done a good job in delaying the onset of this phase. Many countries in the region and elsewhere quickly transitioned into this phase immediately after the first cases were detected. However, for Uganda, we have had almost 7 months of strong preventive and awareness measures,” she said.
She added that after the first case in March, the country acted quickly and implemented a number of serious measures such as the lockdown that have enabled the government to buy time as they prepare for the more dangerous phase.
“I, therefore, want to assure all Ugandans that our country has done all the right things when it comes to managing the epidemic. Now that Uganda has entered this critical phase, the Ministry of Health is preparing to announce a series of measures that the country will follow in order to keep safe. However, as we wait for guidance from the Ministry of Health, I want to call upon everyone to take seriously, what we have learnt on preventing the virus. Your goal should be avoiding getting the virus because it is going to be impossible to have everyone tested or even treated. You the individual and community at large have the power to control the spread of the virus.
“During this critical stage, I want to call upon everyone to take seriously the issue of compliance to the standard operating procedures. The stage has also coincided with the opening up of schools and churches and the elections. However, despite all the risks associated with the above, government decided that another lockdown was not the right way to go. All the guidance by scientists indicates that the right thing to do now is to focus on individual protection. I, therefore, want to call upon all of us to play our part in ensuring that we bring down the new infections.”
Meanwhile, Jacob Siminyu the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also confirmed that with effect from 1st October 2020,people entering Uganda and opt to undergo Covid-19 quarantine at home will stay with their passports. Initially, those who preferred to go under quarantine at their homes their passports were being held by immigration officers.
Currently, Uganda has over 7,700 confirmed cumulative cases.
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