UGANDA CONFIRMS FIRST CORONAVIRUS CASE

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.