625 Ugandans who returned from different countries have been discharged from various quarantine centers in Entebbe and Kampala, the Health Ministry confirms. The returnees were discharged on Saturday and Sunday.
According to the Ministry, majority of these returned from United States of America, Canada and Qatar two weeks ago and they also include former Electoral Commission Chairperson and now board Chairperson National Water and Sewerage Corporation Eng. Badru Kiggundu, plus former Health Minister, Dr. Christine Ondoa who returned from the USA.
According to Eng Kiggundu, he traveled to the USA on official duty in early March and got stuck in New York. He completed institutional quarantine and was discharged on Saturday.
Meanwhile some of those discharged over the weekend were from the first batch that returned between June 22nd and July 4th from Afghanistan, Turkey, India and South Africa among others.
The group stayed longer in quarantine as contacts of the 52 returnees who tested positive for the coronavirus-COVID-19. Also, an additional six returnees tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. This prompted some of the returnees to protest the extended quarantine, saying they should have been discharged on Friday but left on Saturday or Sunday.
As per the rules by the Internal Affairs Ministry, returnees who book private quarantine centers must pay before boarding their flight to Uganda to allow the Health Ministry and private hotel managers plan better and avoid congestion at the quarantine centers.
However, despite the fact that the health officers collected samples from the returnees on Thursday, the results were released on Saturday and Sunday. The individuals had to pay extra fees due to the delays.
