KAMPALA —Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Uganda have risen to 160 after 21 new cases, all truck drivers tested positive for the virus on Thursday.
The new cases include Ugandan truck drivers, Kenyans, Tanzanians and South Sudanese who arrived via Mutukula, Busia and Elegu borders
Their samples were among the 1,593 samples that were tested on Thursday May 14 at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe.
“All 303 community samples have tested negative for COVID-19,” the statement by Ministry of Health said adding that a total samples tested today stand at 1,896.
The drivers who tested positive have been coming from neighbouring countries including Kenyan, Tanzania, South Sudan among others.
The minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng has said the rapid assessment survey has revealed that there is no community transmission of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Uganda.
Addressing the nation today about the COVID-19 status, Aceng said out of 14,061 participants of the targeted 23,000 samples, only four sporadic cases tested positive including; two police officers, a Ugandan student returnee from Bukoba in Tanzania and a truck driver in Rakai.
Aceng says this translates to just 0.03% community transmission.
On April 28, 2020, the ministry of Health flagged off a rapid assessment survey to determine the prevalence of coronavirus disease in communities in the country.
The survey targeted blood samples, nose and throat swabs from random individuals including the riskiest personnel such as the clergy, market vendors, police and army officers.
Aceng said from the rapid assessment survey there is indeed no COVID-19 transmission within the Ugandan community. She said Uganda’s coronavirus risk, for now, remains cross-border truck drivers.
