Uganda Starts to Ease Lockdown
President Museveni has gradually started easing Uganda’s 45 Day-lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus.
Addressing the nation on Monday, president Museveni allowed the opening of wholesale shops but public and private transport remain prohibited apart from motorbike and bicycles
He noted that government has already established National COVID 19 treatment centers; Entebbe, Mulago and Women’s Hospitals, an additional 14 more treatment centers have been set up in the following areas Arua, Gulu, Lira, Soroti, Moroto, Mbale, Hoima, Jinja, Mubende, Fort Portal, Kabale, Mbarara, Masaka and Naguru.
He said, COVID Taskforce District health personnel are able to collect samples and send to them to Kampala and UVRI in Entebbe through the 100 established collection hubs across the country.
Wholesalers Hardware shops, Warehouse stores/ shops, Hardware shops, Garages/ repair workshops, Metal and woodwork workshops, Insurance companies including warehouses have been allowed to open but must observe SOPs for social distancing.
Uganda Law Society will be allowed a quota of 30 lawyers at a time to work, and restaurants will operate but only allowed to provide “take away” services.
He, however, extended the lockdown for Schools, mosques, Churches and other activities for more further two weeks as experts continue to observe the situation of COVID -19 in the country.
He said employers should hire buses for their staff members, cycling to workplaces is allowed and walking to the place of work is also allowed.
Face masks are now mandatory for any persons going into the public. The public has been advised to wash their masks every day, dry it and iron before re-use, furthermore hand washing during the usage of the masks has been encouraged.
He revealed that Uganda has joined the rest of the world in attempting to develop a vaccine against COVID19; however, this is going to take up to 18months.
