Amos Wekesa, the Managing Director of Great Lakes Safaris Limited says tourists had decided to go where PCR tests were not required for the vaccinated. "Now we need to tell the world about our beauty and the changes," added Wekesa.
Bamwesigye says the revenues at some point were less than one billion shillings a month in 2020. "But we are now recovering because the passenger numbers are increasing and we are making more money now, about shillings 5 billion a month."
They were expecting to make at least 500 sales a day in the last two weeks of the year. However, they say they are making less than 200 sales daily. Even Christmas and Boxing Day sales were not more than 250.
The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 single-dose vaccine has been reported to be compatible with standard vaccine storage and distribution channels with ease of delivery to remote areas and can be transported using the same cold chain technologies used to transport treatments for cancer, immunological disorders and other medicines.
But more than 50 passengers who travelled with flight number UR-711 landed at Entebbe International Airport on Friday at 3:56 p.m. told our reporter that they had either got some or none of their bags after waiting at the carousel for over two hours. They were told by baggage handlers that some of the bags were left at O. R Tambo Airport in South Africa.
Fred Enanga, the spokesperson of Uganda Police Force says Paul Mubiru and Hajib Kiggundu have been charged on three counts, that is common nuisance behaviour, negligence and refusal to follow lawful inflight instructions.
Passengers interviewed want only travelers arriving from Omicron-risk countries to wait for their results at Entebbe airport, because of the increase in the number of arriving travelers ahead of the festive season.
Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health, told our reporter that the "swab and go" move was based on a scientific assessment of the tests done in the last five days of mandatory testing at the airport. Aceng says only 34 of the 700 passengers tested in that period were positive for COVID-19.
Uganda commenced mandatory COVID-19 testing for all arriving passengers last Wednesday, a process that requires each arriving passenger to pay USD 30 or its equivalent of 110,000 Shillings.
At the moment all passengers are subjected to a mandatory COVID-19 test and held in a waiting area at the airport for not less than two hours after their arrival while waiting for their results. Those who test negative are allowed to continue to their destinations, while those who test positive are sent to medical facilities.
According to the Ministry of Health, deportees are exempted from the payments. But on Wednesday, 43 deportees were asked to pay for the tests or risk sleeping at the airport. The deportees landed around 1 pm aboard Ethiopian Airlines and were held in the waiting area.
"The Notices to Airmen -NOTAM usually takes effect after 48 hours so the earliest the exercise can kick off is Saturday night," Dr. James Eyul, in charge of Port Health at Entebbe airport said.
Joel Ssenyonyi, who is COSASE chairperson and Nakawa West MP, and the other committee members including Mpindi, Alex Ruhunda of Fort Portal Central Division questioned UCAA officials about the absence of rumps at the existing passenger terminal buildings and also the modified building that will be an extension for the current departures and arrivals sections.
The Health Ministry Permanent Secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine, says that another batch of 1.2 million doses of the same vaccine will arrive in the country by the end of next month.
As a result, she says more people will now have access to the one-shot vaccine because the government will not ring fence the vaccine to the initial target group of 4.8million people. Those targeted included medical workers, teachers, security personnel, the elderly, and those with underlying medical conditions.
The move is one of the strategies Dr. Atwine told our reporter that the ministry plans to implement as a result of identifying loopholes in the current exercise of testing only unvaccinated passengers from ten countries namely India, South Sudan, Kenya, United Arab Emirates and Tanzania.
Paul Okware, the head of Stores and Operations at NMS says the agency received three fridges that can store Pfizer vaccines at -80°C . The fridges were donated by UNICEF an can store 3 million doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Moses Kamabare, the NMS General Manager says the agency has the capacity to store a total of six million doses of the various Covid-19 vaccines.
