Hospitals Asked to Reserve 10 Beds for Critical Patients as COVID-19 Cases Rise

The Ministry of Health has directed hospitals across the country to reserve ten beds to be able to isolate and admit people who present with COVID-19.

The decision was made as new cases were averaging 120 per day creating fear that the country could see a new surge in infections following a deep that started in January. Following the confirmation of 66 new cases from tests done on June 23, Uganda now has cumulative 167,367 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Dr Ronny Bahatungire, a member of the National COVID-19 Case Management Committee says health workers have been advised to screen everyone that comes with symptoms of respiratory infections. However, he says that this time around they are not seeing patients present with running noses. Instead, he says many are presenting with cough.

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He says that they have resolved to reserve a minimum of ten beds in government hospitals for the isolation of those with danger signs such as laboured breathing, convulsions and mental disorientation.

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However, even as the cases are rising with a daily average of 100 cases, Dr  Bodo Bongomin, an official from the World Health Organization Uganda office says the current rise has not yet qualified to be referred to as a surge or even an indicator of going into another wave of infection.

He explains that the country’s positivity rate has been fluctuating and is still below five per cent which is what is partly used to determine whether there is a resurgence.

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The latest projections by the National Planning Authority predict a decline in cases in the new week where the report shows 557 new cases projected for the week ending July 2, from 590 cases that the same model projected for the week that ended yesterday.

While over the past month, districts in the West Nile region have been recording the highest number of new cases detected, Mbarara, Kampala and Wakiso are currently topping with the omicron being the dominant variant spreading.