By Rogers Wanambwa 

KIU Main Campus - As of 3rd July 2020, the Ministry of Health announced that it had confirmed nine new COVID-19 cases bringing the total of confirmed cases to 911.

According to a press statement released by the ministry, of the nine, four are truck drivers, three are contacts and alerts, two from Amuru and one from Kyotera districts. 

Two are Indians, resident in Uganda and they had just returned on 1st July 2020 from Mumbai, India. Both were under quarantine by the time of testing. 

Of the four truck drivers, two arrived from Kenya via Malaba Point of Entry, one arrived from Tanzania via Mutukula while the other truck driver arrived from South Sudan via Elegu. 

Also, eleven foreign truck drivers (10 Kenyans and 1 Tanzanian) tested positive for COVID-19 at the border points of entry and were not permitted into the country. 

The ministry also went ahead to state that Uganda now has 197 active cases on admission, of whom 172 are Ugandans, 6 are refugees and 19 are foreigners. The ministry says that the foreigners and refugees are admitted in health facilities but are not captured in the cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases. 

To date, Uganda has registered 849 COVID-19 recoveries with no recorded COVID-19 related death and has carried out 200,179 COVID-19 sample tests.