By Stephen Wandera

KIU, Main Campus – More Ugandans who have been stranded abroad have been repatriated by the government.  

A batch of 300 Ugandans have returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a month after the first group of 270 arrived in the country.

The returnees are part of 1500 including government officials, students, and business people, medical doctors and others who had travelled to the United Arab Emirates for various reasons.  The embassy is arranging more flights for 1,000 people who are still stuck in the UAE.

The latest batch arrived aboard Emirates Airlines. These are Ugandans who were stranded in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umar Quwain and other states following the closure of Uganda’s borders and Entebbe International Airport on March 23, 2020, to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plane carrying them touched down at Entebbe International Airport after 5 pm on Friday and they were taken into institutional quarantine after being screened. The group will join the 837 returnees who are still undergoing institutional quarantine.

Of these, 700 are at the four public facilities, which are the Lands and Survey, Fisheries Institute, Mulago Paramedical School and Mandela National Stadium, Namboole. The rest are in 34 private hotels, which are categorized into three classes, the low cost, medium and high cost.

The latest group brings the total number of returnees to 1,943 ever since June 22 when government started receiving Ugandans and legal residents who were stranded in over 66 countries across the world.

Another 1,384 returnees are expected to arrive between today, August 10 and August 25 from 9 locations including, UAE, Middle East, Southern Africa and Russia among others.