Although Government is currently enforcing a total or institutional quarantine contrary to a self-isolation as a measure to control the pandemic of coronavirus, several travellers arriving through Entebbe are resisting the quarantine.
Government has said it will consider blocking the entry of people into
the country from COVID-19 category one countries.
Although Government is currently enforcing a total or institutional quarantine
contrary to a self-isolation as a measure to control the pandemic of
coronavirus, several travellers arriving through Entebbe are resisting the quarantine.
Some of the 17 countries under category 1 identified by Ministry
of Health are; the United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan, Korea, China,
Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, France, Iran and Spain among others.
Diana Atwine, the Health Ministry Permanent Secretary who was on
Wednesday appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament said if
they get overwhelmed, they will stop people from coming into Uganda.
She says Government is expected to take some drastic measures after today.
Atwine says that they had initially issued a statement warning people from
highly hit areas that they will have to undergo quarantine, but this will
change if the arrivals continue.
Atwine says if institutional quarantine fails, they will come up
with more tough measures.
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Atwine says they have written to the embassies and met the
ambassadors and asked them to advise their citizens not to travel, but they
haven’t heeded to the call.
It is not yet clear when the closure will take effect, and for how
long it will be implemented.
Several countries have shut down their borders in the wake of the
coronavirus pandemic which has so far claimed 8,200 lives and has seen 204,000
tests positive worldwide.
Atwine also said that the Ministry has currently got approval to
recruit temporary staff to handle the coronavirus situation as the current staff
numbers are not enough.
