Kampala, UGANDA
Uganda has confirmed
first coronavirus case, Reuters reported on Saturday.
The agency reported
that Uganda’s Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng has confirmed the first
coronavirus case in a 36-year-old Ugandan male who arrived from Dubai on
Saturday aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
“The ministry
would like to inform the general public that Uganda has confirmed her first
case of coronavirus disease COVID-19,” Aceng said in a statement broadcast on
state television.
Aceng said the patient
travelled to Dubai four days ago for a business trip and all the other
passengers who travelled with the patient on the same flight are under
quarantine and have so far tested negative.
The report comes barely
hours after Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni announced that no passenger
planes would be allowed to enter or leave the country. He said that only cargo
planes or those involved in relief work will be allowed into or out of the
country effective Sunday.
Uganda has vast
business relations with neighbouring South Sudan.
Key symptoms of the new
coronavirus include fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. The virus is
spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes and the droplets land in the
mouths and noses of another person.
A person can also get
infected with coronavirus by touching a surface or object that has the virus on
it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or their eyes.
People are being
advised by health officials to observe high standards of hygiene and limit
unnecessary human contact.
Globally, the number of
infected hit 289,948 and deaths reached nearly 12,000, according to data
compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as more governments resorted to
drastic measures to contain the spread.
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