Uganda goes into total lockdown as coronavirus infections rise

Africa, B.1.351, Beta, Botswana, Health, Infection, Kenya, Lockdown, Science, South Africa, Transmission, Uganda, Zambia

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday tightened restrictions in the country following a worrying rise in Covid-19 infections and deaths.

On a day when the country recorded 42 Covid-related deaths and 1,000 new infections, the Ugandan leader stopped the movement of public and private transport vehicles. Only security, emergency and other essential service providers, including the police, firefighters and the military have been exempted.

The new move tightened restrictions imposed a week ago, when cross-district travel was banned, schools closed and other public gatherings restricted yet the deaths continued to rise.

At the Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital Kampala, a ‘technical fault’ on Wednesday cut off oxygen supply to Covid-19 patients at the facility, leading to the death of several patients. The new highest death toll would arrive two days later when the country reported 42 deaths, raising the number of those killed by the virus to more than 400.

The East African report

 

Image by Charles Nambasi from Pixabay

 

** This post was originally published on June 18, 2021 **