The first group of Ugandan Returnees who have been stranded abroad due to airport and border closure amidst COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the country yesterday.
This is after government allowed a total of 2,392 Ugandans stranded abroad to return in a phased and orderly manner.
According to the ministry of Health, Uganda will receive a group of 300 returnees every two weeks and the first group arrived on the 13th of June 2020.
While giving an update on the COVID-19 response in Uganda yesterday, the health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said all the returnees have to undergo a mandatory COVID-19 testing prior to their return journey.
She says the ministry of foreign affairs made arrangements and communicated through the country’s missions abroad to enable this.
Dr. Aceng says her ministry has identified and prepared a total of 16 quarantine centers where all the returnees must undergo 14 days of institutional quarantine at their cost.
“We have also assembled screening and laboratory teams to ensure that all the returnees undergo COVID-19 testing upon arrival and on the 10th and 14th days of quarantine respectively” she said.
The minister adds that if any one is found positive, in the quarantine site, he/she will be transferred to a designated isolation treatment center for care.
To contain the spread of Covid-19, president Yoweri Museveni on March 22 suspended all incoming flights, except cargo flights.
The total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Uganda is 685. This includes 47 returnees from abroad, 234 contacts and alerts, 337 truck drivers and 67 cases with history of travel to East African countries.
