Museveni to Address Country on Saturday Following Surge In Covid-19 Cases

President Yoweri Museveni will tomorrow Saturday address the country on the COVID19 pandemic situation in the country, according to his Senior Press Secretary Nabusayi Lindah Wamboka.

In a tweet, Nabusayi says the presidential address which will be relayed live on all radio and television stations in the country will start at 8pm.

She says the President will use the address to “update Ugandans on the COVID-19 situation.”

Uganda has recently witnessed a sharp rise in the COVID19 cases as well as confirming the Indian, UK, Nigerian and South African variants in Uganda something that has since raised fear among Ugandans.

On the week starting from 25 April, Uganda reported 256 cases. The week starting 2nd May, that number went up to 411. The week of the 9th of May, the number went to 475. And the week of the 16 May, the number has reached 1,060.

This week on Wednesday alone, the Ministry of Health confirmed 637 new cases rising the country’s cumulative confirmed cases to 45,231 by May 26 and 43,401 recoveries. 361 Ugandans have since the confirmation of the first case in Uganda in March last year died of the virus.

On Thursday, Dr. Henry Mwebesa, the director of health services, noted that it has taken the country less than 10 days to get to a full-blown pandemic.

The most affected group is people between the ages of 20 and 39, and the number of severely and critically ill COVID-19 patients is higher than it was in the first wave.

Mwebesa said officials are making tough decisions to ensure that people in densely populated areas such as Kampala get the vaccine.

“To also note with concern that some districts, especially in the Eastern and Northern regions, have not performed as well. So, the strategic committee meeting of the Ministry of Health resolved that vaccines be withdrawn from the poorly performing districts, and that the exercise should commence 27th May, which is today (yesterday),” he said.

In March, Uganda received 964,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX facility, with 100,000 doses coming from India. Since March 10, about 550,000 people have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

A total of 565,163 persons have since been vaccinated against COVID-19.