Two truck drivers test positive as Uganda’s virus cases rise to 63
Two new COVID-19 positive case have been recorded, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Uganda, to 63.
The new numbers were recorded on Wednesday by the Ministry of Health after testing 1,296 at the Uganda Virus Research Centre in Entebbe.
According to Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director general of health services at the Ministry of Health, one case was recorded from 550 samples that were taken from the community and quarantine centres and one case was from 746 samples tested from truck drivers at border points of entry.
He said that one of the positive cases is a 43-year-old truck driver who arrived from Tanzania on April 17.
“However, he was a contact of a Tanzanian truck driver who tested positive on April 17, as they travelled in the same vehicle. Because of his contact with the confirmed case, the ministry decided to quarantine him at Mulago Hospital. A test conducted on him today [Wednesday] tested positive for COVID-19,” Dr Mwebesa said in a Wednesday statement. “He did not have COVID-19 signs and symptoms during quarantine.”
He said that another case is a 35-year-old Tanzanian truck driver who arrived at Mutukula Border Post from Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania who did not have any signs and symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
Dr Mwebesa said said on Tuesday that World Health Organisations international health regulations require that every case is counted and treated in a country where it was tested and confirmed.
One Wednesday, seven patients were discharged.
Three patients were discharged from Mulago Hospital while four patients were released from Entebbe Grade B Hospital, which brings the number of discharged patients since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, to 45.
