By Stuart Bogere Oswald

KIU, Main Campus - Uganda’s Ministry of Health on Thursday announced that the new COVID-19 variant discovered in India had been detected in the country.

According to Ministry of Health, the deadly COVID-19 variant from India has been detected in Uganda.

India has recently witnessed a dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases, blamed in part on the new virus variant in addition to mass political and religious events. The surge has overwhelmed hospitals with worrying shortages of beds, drugs, and oxygen.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned that the variant, identified as B.1.617, had been detected in at least 17 countries and more than 40 African countries are at high-risk of a resurgence of the pandemic.

This comes at a time when Uganda has consistently recorded low new daily COVID-19 numbers and, as such, may spark fears of a potential resurgence in COVID-19 numbers.

The ministry urged the public to continue adhering to the laid-out health regulations and, if eligible, get vaccinated as soon as possible.