Uganda's coronavirus cases have risen to 81 after two new cases were confirmed on Wednesday at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).
The two new cases are of a 24-year-old Ugandan male and a 21-year-old Burundian refugee - both contacts to an earlier confirmed positive case of a Burundian refugee.
The ministry says both cases have been quarantined at Rakai hospital. All 1,703 samples from truck drivers at border points tested negative for COVID-19. A total of 2,002 samples were tested at UVRI.
The ministry of Health also announced today that the Kenyan driver who died at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor in Gulu in northern Uganda did not die from coronavirus.
The hospital had announced that the 59-year-old who was referred from Elelgu border post in Amuru district on Saturday had presented signs and symptoms of coronavirus.
The trucker died alongside an 18-year-old woman who was also admitted to the isolation ward on Saturday. She was reportedly referred to Lacor hospital from Abee hospital in Oyam district after she was diagnosed with severe pneumonia. Results from UVRI indicate that she too did not have coronavirus at the time of her death.
In a related development, Tanzania today registered 174 new cases were registered in mainland Tanzania and 22 from Zanzibar to take the country's total to 480 and 167 recoveries.
Kenya’s infections rose to 384 after 10 more infections were registered today. s. Burundi stands at 11 cases and one death while Rwanda stands at 212 cases and 0 deaths. DR Congo cases rose to 491 after 20 new cases were recorded on Wednesday.
South Sudan should expect to see a spike in coronavirus cases in coming days, according to at least one public health expert. 28 new cases were confirmed Tuesday by the country’s high-level task force on COVID-19, bringing the total to 34.
Dr Akuay Cham, an associate professor at the College of Public Health at the University of Juba, called the one-day increase in the number of confirmed cases worrying and said it indicated the virus was being transmitted locally.
“When we have, for example, an imported case, a case coming from outside, it is easy to track. But now you start having community transmission, in which you don’t know who is carrying what,” Cham told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.
First Vice President Riek Machar, deputy chairman of the task force, said 10 other test results came back unclear and must be retested. He said the new confirmed cases had all come in contact with one person.
“All 28 confirmed cases and eight cases with inclusive test results are contacts of the fifth case, who was a member of Tonj Community Peace Mission,” Machar told VOA.
He said all of the individuals were isolated at the same quarantine site.
'Respect the directives'
The jump in cases should make South Sudanese realize the seriousness of the situation, said the first vice president.
“We want citizens to respect the directives given to them by the high-level task force so that we protect ourselves and our nation,” said Machar.
South Sudan’s task force on COVID-19 said it had tested nearly 600 samples to date. The task force announced Wednesday that a curfew in Juba would begin an hour earlier, at 7 p.m., effective immediately. It said all bars, food stalls and restaurants except those offering takeout service were closed until further notice.
Efforts to fight the pandemic should include consideration of mass testing, beginning in Juba, Cham said.
“Let citizens not take this as responsibility of the government. It is every one of us; you have to be responsible for your life, and it is not an issue of the government, you have to take it personal. Be a responsible citizen,” Chan said.
The task force has urged the public to practice social distancing and to wash hands regularly with soap.