Kenya’s neighbouring country, Uganda is contemplating a total lockdown following the rise in Covid-19 infections by 81 percent between March and April.
Dr Misaki Wayengera, the chairperson of the ministerial scientific advisory committee, on Wednesday evening told reporters that the country was experiencing a second wave that could be more severe than the first one.
Wayengera said that the wave is in the lag phase.
“We might hit a point where infections rapidly go up as it happened in India. Unfortunately, given that we have active transmission going on in the communities, this might be the same thing that will happen to us,” he said.
Read: Covid-19 Variant from India Confirmed in Uganda
Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng noted that there has been a rise in infections among children and youths.
“We have started to experience a significant increase in cases of Covid-19 among the 10-29 age group. We registered a 12 per cent increase in cases among children aged 10-19 years and a 5 per cent increase in those aged 20-29,” she stated.
Last week, the country confirmed the emergence of the lethal Indian variant. The country has also registered four other variants including, Ugandan, Nigerian, South African and UK variants.
Dr Aceng said the community infections are mostly in Kiryandongo, Adjumani, Soroti, Oyam, Gulu and Jinja.
To prevent further importation of Covid-19 variants, the country has suspended flights to and from Indian effective May 1.
The country has also set up laboratories with the ability to test 5,000 samples per day.
“The Ministry of Health has identified five laboratories with the ability to test 5,000 samples per day (at $65 (USh231,470)) and tasked them to set up testing points in Entebbe town to test incoming travellers from category 1 and 2 countries,” she continued.
As of Wednesday, the East African country had recorded 42,102 cases.
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