Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday announced the government has decided to extend the lockdown for another three weeks, until May 5, as parts of efforts to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic, reported Reuters.
“Given…the challenges that remain, the government has decided to keep the stay-home decision for another 21 days,” Museveni said in a speech on Tuesday.
The lockdown extension announcement was made just hours before the initial 14-day lockdown was due to end.
The Ugandan government had closed its borders and banned international flights except for cargo and emergency flights on March 22, a day after the first case was identified in the country.
President Museveni said the extended lockdown will definitely help in defeating the deadly virus decisively, or if not defeated totally, to prepare better as to how to cope with it.
A cumulative total of 6,661 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in Uganda. A total of 55 positive coronavirus cases have been recorded so far with no causalities. Eight patients have recovered.
“One patient, who was admitted at Adjumani hospital with a positive COVID-19 test has been discharged after testing negative twice for COVID-19. The total number of patients who have been discharged is now eight,” Dr Henry Mwebesa, the Director General Health Services, said in a statement.
In related news, Uganda is also bolstering measures to contain a second wave of desert locusts amid the fight against COVID-19.
The country’s ministry of agriculture said the swarms of locusts arrived on April 3 through Amudat district, and by April 6, they had spread inland into four districts.
“Unlike previous swarms, these swarms comprise of immature adult desert locusts recently hatched in Kenya,” the ministry said in a recent statement. “The immature adult desert locust is a growth stage that still feeds heavily and therefore has the potential to destroy vegetation wherever they go.”
