Health officials in Nwoya Distric have put five people who came in contact with three COVID-19 positive foreign truck drivers who were intercepted last week in Pakwach district, including a Tanzanian national and two Kenyans.
The trio was part of the 11 truck drivers who tested positive to the virus at different border posts on April 23.
According to Janet Oola the Nwoya District Health Officer, the 5 contacts are being quarantined at Pope Paul IV Secondary School, Anaka a designated isolation centre for COVID-19 cases and12 beds have been designated at Anaka Hospital IV for management of COVID-19 cases.
Patrick Jimmy Okema Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson says the contacts were traced by police, military, civilians and health workers around major trading centres of Olwiyo, Agung and Purongo, along Karuma – Pakwach high way.
They are all dealers who siphon fuel from trucks believed to have made physical links with the foreign truck drivers and their samples have been extracted and taken to Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe for laboratory analysis.
Currently, Uganda has 78 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 52 recoveries. The country has registered no deaths related to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, samples extracted from deaths that occurred at Lacor Hospital in Gulu have tested negative for COVID-19.
The deaths that happened on Sunday were of a 59-year-old Kenyan truck driver and an 18-year-old female who were admitted at the hospital following refferals from the Elegu border post in Amuru district and Abee Hospital in Oyam district respectively.
But according to Atek Kagirita, a member of the COVID-19 task force the deaths were not related to the pandemic. This means the country still has not registered any deaths related to COVID-19.
