KAMPALA— The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Uganda has risen to 89 after one sample tested positive on Sunday, the Ministry of Health has said.
The case is part of 2,729 samples of truck drivers tested on Sunday.
While all the 201 samples analysed on the same day from community returned negative for COVID-19.
The case is a 39 year old Kenyan male truck driver who arrived via Malaba border post.
Ministry of health officials are currently trying to locate him while the community case confirmed on Saturday May 2, from Rakai District has been evacuated to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital and his family members are under quarantine.
Ministry of Health says both Kenyan and Burundian truck drivers who were also confirmed on Saturday have also returned to their respective countries.
Uganda relies on truckers to bring in essential goods from port cities in neighboring Kenya and Tanzania.
Performance reports from the Kenya Ports Authority show Uganda has been the leading user importing cargo from the port of Mombasa for the past several years.
Up to 12% of the country is chronically food insecure, and over 12% of Uganda’s food was imported in 2018.
President Yoweri Museveni who is expected to address the country on Monday, expressed concern that further restricting driver movements would harm Uganda’s economy.
“We need the cargo. We need the goods,” said Museveni in a press conference.
“But at the same time we don’t want the disease…So don’t touch the driver, and the driver should not touch you.”
