Hon Judith Nabakooba. COURTESY PHOTO.
Hon Judith Nabakooba has confirmed that government will not impose another lockdown during the festive season even though there’s a resurgence of new coronavirus cases in several parts of the country.
Nabakooba who is the Minister of Information and Communications Technology was however quick to note on Sunday that officials will continue to enforce the existing curfew and other SOPs.
“I call upon everyone to be careful,” she said in a statement. “Let us follow the COVID-19 guidelines so that we stay alive to celebrate next year’s festivities as well.”
“Discotheques and music concerts are still under lockdown and are not allowed to operate,” she added.
Uganda saw its second highest number of cases (701) in a single day on 9 Dec. 2020.
Results of COVID-19 tests done on 19 December 2020 confirm 485 new cases. The cumulative confirmed cases are 31,187. The total COVID-19 deaths are 231.
For most analysts, the unusual number of infections comes amid fears that some candidates for the country’s general elections have “deliberately” rejected to adhere to the preventive guidelines by the Health Ministry and the Electoral Commission (EC) during their political campaigns, according to reports.
Elsewhere, Hon Judith Nabakooba noted that Uganda expects to obtain the first batch of the Covid-19 vaccine by May or June 2021.
“Priority will be given to frontline medical workers, the elderly and people with exciting health conditions,” she said.
Worldwide, the death toll from COVID-19 stands at over 1.69 million since the virus was first detected in China in December last year. The number of infections totals over 76.4 million, according to the latest figures from the US’ Johns Hopkins University.
