Although Government is currently enforcing a total or institutional quarantine contrary to a self-isolation as a measure to control the pandemic of coronavirus, several travellers arriving through Entebbe are resisting the quarantine.
Government has said it will consider blocking the entry of people into the country from COVID-19 category one countries.
Although Government is currently enforcing a total or institutional quarantine contrary to a self-isolation as a measure to control the pandemic of coronavirus, several travellers arriving through Entebbe are resisting the quarantine.
Some of the 17 countries under category 1 identified by Ministry of Health are; the United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan, Korea, China, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, France, Iran and Spain among others.
Diana Atwine, the Health Ministry Permanent Secretary who was on Wednesday appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament said if they get overwhelmed, they will stop people from coming into Uganda.
She says Government is expected to take some drastic measures after today. Atwine says that they had initially issued a statement warning people from highly hit areas that they will have to undergo quarantine, but this will change if the arrivals continue.
Atwine says if institutional quarantine fails, they will come up with more tough measures.
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Atwine says they have written to the embassies and met the ambassadors and asked them to advise their citizens not to travel, but they haven’t heeded to the call.
It is not yet clear when the closure will take effect, and for how long it will be implemented.
Several countries have shut down their borders in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic which has so far claimed 8,200 lives and has seen 204,000 tests positive worldwide.
Atwine also said that the Ministry has currently got approval to recruit temporary staff to handle the coronavirus situation as the current staff numbers are not enough.
Story by Alex Otto
