Three of 9 false Covid tests were from OPM

Three close contacts of Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda were among the nine individuals who were wrongly declared positive for Covid-19, Daily Monitor has learnt.
Following the results, Dr Rugunda tweeted on June 5 that he had gone into self-quarantine as a precautionary measure even when his own tests had turned out negative.

President Museveni then designated Gen Moses Ali, the First Deputy Prime Minister, to act in Dr Rugunda’s stead for the days the prime minister is away.
A source told this newspaper that among the nine samples the Health minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, mentioned at her weekend press briefing to have received false positive results, three were from close associates of the Prime Minister. It was not clear by press time who the remaining six were.

The three contacts reportedly include a member of his family, driver and bodyguard. Speaking after the Budget speech last week, President Museveni said there had been carelessness in the handling of Covid-19 testing at a laboratory at Makerere University, leading to declaration of false negative samples as positive. He directed the Health minister to explain the discrepancies.

Dr Aceng confirmed that due to technical glitches, some samples tested between June 3 and June 4 that were negative were posted as positive.

She said on further examination and retesting, the samples came out negative and that the concerned persons were duly informed. We were unable to reach Dr Aceng for a comment on this..

Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the senior spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, said: “The individuals whose results had been falsely declared positive were notified that it was a mistake. The ministry cannot give you their details; that would be unethical.”
Following Dr Rugunda’s move, all staff at the Office of the Prime Minister’s offices underwent compulsory testing, starting with those working closely with him, including secretaries, drivers, security detail, cleaners and assistants.
The tests were conducted by a team of UPDF medical doctors. All the results from the first batch of tests turned out negative.

The second batch was conducted on all other floors of the nine-storied building, covering more than 250 members of staff. They all came out negative.

Additionally, all members of the National Taskforce on Covid-19 Response were tested and their results turned out negative.
Sources say it was a beehive of activity during the days when tests were being conducted, with staff moving in an out of the OPM main conference hall and the ground floor boardroom where the tests were carried out.

A decision was then taken to do additional tests on the people who had tested positive. When results returned, the positive cases were found negative.

When contacted, Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the OPM spokesperson: “I can confirm that the Office of the Prime Minister has been consistently emphasising strict adherence to the Covid-19 prevention guidelines from the time the response started in March with mandatory temperature checks on all staff and visitors before entering its premises,” Mr Mucunguzi said.

“...The testing of staff members is, therefore, part of more comprehensive efforts. By the PM going into self-quarantine, the alertness and vigilance was heightened. I cannot comment on the other issues,” he added.

PM response
Ruhakana Rugunda
I’m still in self-isolation. All I can tell you is that you should contact the Minister of Health for more authoritative information on that subject. Thank you very much.
[email protected]