Covid-19: 19,413 cases registered in last 14 days – Minister Aceng

“The country is now in its third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Acengs says Friday.

Kampala – January 7, 2022: The Minister of Health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng says in the last 14 days, the country confirmed 19,413 cases with a daily average of 1,386 cases.

Aceng says Uganda has moved from the period of sustained containment where the positivity rate was below 5%. “The country is now in its third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” she adds on Friday.

So far, she says 12,085,428 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to the population, adding that, “To date, 10,315,951 of the 22 million priority persons have received the first doses and 2,236,544 are vaccinated using Johnson and Johnson.”

The Health Minister, Aceng adds that 1,769,477 have received the second dose and are fully vaccinated. “Considering it requires only one dose of J&J to be fully vaccinated, Uganda has fully vaccinated 4,006,021 people.” This represents vaccination coverage of 18.2%.

On administering booster dose, she says health workers, teachers and security forces are the first groups to be given. The rest of the population will start receiving at the end of March 2022.

The aforementioned groups of people, she says were recommended for booster doses due to their high level of contact with other members of the public during their day-to-day activities.

According to Aceng, learners of 18 years and above should be accepted back to school whether vaccinated or not, adding that it’s easier for them to be identified and vaccinated at school.

“Schools should make effort to have them vaccinated using the nearest health facility or vaccination center.”

On learners. “The Ministry of Health would like to guide that testing of learners prior to going back to school or on arrival is not an official position of the Covid-19 National Task Force.”

Testing before returning to school is not necessary because it’s only beneficial when there is a history of contact or symptoms, according to Dr Aceng.

Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam who is the World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative for Uganda says we have seen a 22% increase in the number of deaths due to Covid-19 in the African continent.

“This is attributed to low vaccination coverage.”

In the last 24 hours, Tegegn says more than 8,000 people died globally due to Covid-19, adding that the pandemic is still a threat to public health and the economy.

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