Compulsory Covid test kicks up storm at airport

Chaotic scenes played out at  Entebbe International Airport yesterday as hundreds of people were held for seven hours, waiting for test results after a government decision to test all arriving passengers for coronavirus.

Angry passengers took to social media to vent their frustration, calling the compulsory Covid-19 test “ridiculous”. 
Some people Daily Monitor talked to complained of waiting all night to receive their test results.

 Footage posted on social media showed frantic crowds at the arrival terminal jostling amid technical glitches and delays.  

Some returning citizens admitted paying between Shs50,000 and Shs100,000 to lab attendants in order to access results within three hours. The government had promised to issue the test results within 45 minutes or an hour.

One of the passengers told this newspaper that he had arrived from Nairobi aboard KQ flight at 9:30am but received his results at 12:39pm after he talked to the laboratory attendant “nicely.”  

“After doing the test, they told me I would get my results at about 10:30am,”he said, adding: “There is a lot of confusion inside there and I had to pay Shs50,000 to the attendant for me to access my results in a short time. I know people who have spent more than seven hours.”   

Another woman, a Chinese national who had arrived at 7:30am, said she received her results at 1:42pm without clear explanations for the delay.
 “My observation is that those who were given the work of testing aren’t used to the system. You do a test and wait for more than four hours only to be called back for another test that the system failed. This is all wasting time,” she said.
 
MPs furious
 In Parliament, MPs had no kind words for the compulsory Covid test and accused authorities at the airport of harassing members who attempted to question the decision.  
Mr Alex Byarugaba (Isingiro South-NRM) opened up about the trauma he went through at the airport as he returned from hospital.

“I was with my attendant, my wife. I have got one jab and still have to take another one. So, I had to undergo a mandatory test. But, directly from where one collects luggage, I was [harasssed] by armed army men. I tried to object, but they shoved me.”

The encounter forced the MP to identify himself (to the armed men) while re-affirming that he was a law abiding citizen and would go for the test. The men did not listen. Instead, he was bundled up into a vehicle.

“They took me in and I ended up in a very sordid place where they carried out tests. That place is next to Lido Beach and does not have toilet facilities. I was there for four complete hours. It was so bad,” he said.

He added: “If I was that annoyed (by the experience), how about those visitors I travelled with?”
Other MPs also chipped in simultaneously with related experiences.

At some point, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Anita Among interjected and said: “If I gave you my experience, you will not believe it.” 

She, however, did not go into details of what happened to her at the airport. She was in Russia recently.
 Health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng and the Director General of Health Services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, rushed to the airport to meet other stakeholders in trying to find a solution to the crisis.

The government rolled out a mandatory Covid19 testing on Wednesday as one of the means of fighting and preventing the spread of the deadly pandemic following President Museveni’s directive and launch of a testing site at the airport on Monday.

On President Museveni’s visit, the airport and Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) staff had indicated that they were set for the job and all the equipment was ready for the task after government postponing compulsory Covid test in order to put systems in place and avert unnecessary delays.    
 
Dr Aceng on challenges
“We are encouraging everybody to register online so that we avoid the congestion at the sample removal place. There is a link that has been sent to all websites. Please access it and provide your information online and also try as much as possible to pay online so that we can avoid the congestion at the exit,” Dr Aceng said. 

“Tourists have a separate line and I want to assure Ugandans that no tourist was caught up in the confusion that we saw this morning because tourists are taken away by the tourism board to a separate place after sample removal,” she said.

Mr Vianney Lugya, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson, yesterday refuted claims that some people waited for results the entire night.

He explained that 678 samples were picked from arriving passengers on the first day of mandatory testing, and 95 percent of the results were returned in under two and a half hours, and only 5 percent experienced a slight delay.

Mr Lugya also said of the 678 samples picked on the first day, three tested positive, and two had arrived with forged PCR test results.
 “Measures have been put in place in liaison with all stakeholders to fully address some of the challenges experienced.   

“I would like to assure all users of the air transport system to ignore the unfortunate social media campaign discouraging people from visiting Uganda through Entebbe. We assure you of a smooth and seamless passenger experience,” Mr Lugya explained in an interview.

Reported By Derrick Wandera, Eve Muganga & Esther Oluka

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