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Seven Frontline health workers test positive for Covid-19 in Uganda

Ministry of health this Evening of 31st May 2020 has confirmed that Seven health workers have been tested positive for Covid-19.

Among these include 3 nurses, 2 doctors and 2 senior level officers bringing the total confirmed cases to 417.

Three (3) of the health workers were confirmed among the samples of Saturday 30th May 2020 while four (4) were confirmed on sunday 31st May 2020.

All have been admitted at Entebbe grade B hospital and Mulago National specialised hospitals and are in stable condition.

3rd June Uganda Martyrs day will be live on Youtube as well as on all social Media Platforms

Due to the outbrake of Covid-19 pandemic, this year's Uganda Martyrs day celebration which will take place on the 3rd of June will be live on all of Uganda Martyrs Catholic shrines Social Media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, instagram and Linkedin.

This years celebration will not attract the pilgrims from worldwide as it used to be but it will only be led by a selected group of people as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus and everyone will pray from the comfort of their homes.

This Years Celebration was supposed to be led by the Diocese of Masaka.

Parliament demands report on collapsed buildings

Legislators have tasked the Ministry of Works and Transport to present a detailed report to Parliament on the collapse of buildings around the city within a week.

This followed presentation of a ministerial statement by the Minister of State for Transport, Hon Joy Kabatsi on the action taken by the ministry to enforce adherence to building standards and regulations. This comes after numerous accidents occurring at building sites, compensation of affected families and steps taken to stem the re-occurrence of such accidents.

Kabatsi said the Building and Construction Board which is charged with supervising construction sites has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and has not been able to carry out supervision.

She added that masons have taken advantage of the lockdown to put up buildings that have collapsed. She added that it is only after the lockdown that engineers responsible in the ministry will be able to fulfill their duties and curtail such mishaps.

“If there are buildings coming up in a rush during this period, we need to wait for the appropriate time for our engineers to intervene,” she added.

However, Legislators found the minister’s statement unsatisfactory adding that the matter was dire and required expeditious action from the Ministry.

The Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga said, “Is the Ministry of Works closed? If not, then the engineers ought to report back to duty and handle the matter”.

She added that collapsing buildings should constitute an emergency situation that dictates express action from the engineers in charge of supervising the buildings.

Butemba County MP, Hon Pentagon Kamusiime added that the systems within the government must be functional regardless of the prevailing situation.

“We need an assurance from the minister that means are devised within the ministry to manage these unscrupulous actions,” he added.

Hon. Joy Ongom (UPC, Lira District) added that, ‘the minister was seemingly not in charge if she cannot take charge of the matter’.

“Buildings have since time immemorial been collapsing and this is not the first time. The lockdown due to the pandemic should not be an excuse. The minister ought to take this seriously,” Ongom added.

Hon. Robert Kafeero Ssekitoleko, (NRM, Nakifuma County) and Chairperson of the Committee on Physical Infrastructure said that in an interaction with Executive Secretary of the Building and Construction Board, he ascertained that it was poorly funded.

“From its inception, the Board does not have sufficient funding to execute its mandate which involves supervising construction projects,” he said.

Ssekitoleko however, said that a provision of Shs6 billion for the Board had been made in the budget for the financial year 2020 to 2021.

The Speaker directed the minister to deploy the engineers to do ground work on the matter and report back to Parliament.

Burundi election commission says Ndayishimiye new president

Burundi's election commission declared the governing party's candidate, Evariste Ndayishimiye, the winner of the country's presidential election amid accusations of rigging by the leading opposition challenger.

         People crowded during election

Ndayishimiye, a retired army general, won 68.72 percent of the votes in last week's ballot, while Agathon Rwasa, the main opposition leader, received 24.19 percent, the commission said on Monday. There was a turnout of 88 percent.

Since Ndayishimiye received more than 50 percent of the vote, he avoided a runoff.

Ndayishimiye was picked by the governing CNDD-FDD party to succeed outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza, whose controversial decision to seek a third term in the last election in 2015 sparked mass unrest, violence and an opposition boycott.

Therence Manirambona, spokesman for the opposition National Freedom Council (CNL) said the party boycotted the announcement of results as it could not "back this farce", repeating allegations of "massive fraud" during Wednesday's election and the counting process.

"We have all the evidence and the real figures of these elections. We will seek justice," Manirambona told
the German news agency dpa.

Before the officials results came in, Rwasa had already alleged foul play, saying early numbers showing his CNL party heading for a bruising defeat were a "fantasy".

With 87.7 percent of registered voters turning out to cast their ballots in last week's elections, commission chairman Pierre Claver Kazihise described the turnout as "massive" and said the polling, which also included the election of members of parliament and local officials, was peaceful.

Ugandans develop and app for Covid-19 contact tracing.

As Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc worldwide, many scientists are looking for possible solutions to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the infection.

Defining Technologies, a Ugandan firm, has developed a contact tracing app which alerts users and the Ministry of Health in case someone has been in contact with a Covid-19 positive person.

“The public users can see if they have been exposed, privately log your location and completely control your data whereas the champions of this fight (public health officials) are offered with reliable contact tracing, map infections with accuracy and anonymously verify cases,” Mr Toskin Gregory, a cyber security analyst at Define Technologies, said on Thursday.

Mr Gregory explained that the app uses smartphone technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Bluetooth to collect and share the data, which are agile and easy to use.

“The digital contact tracing app uses overlapped GPS and Bluetooth trails that allow an individual to check if they have crossed paths with someone who was later diagnosed for the virus. Through Covid Tracer, public health officials are equipped to redact location trails of diagnosed carriers and thus broadcast location information with privacy protection for both diagnosed patients and local businesses,” he said.

Using the Bluetooth capabilities in smartphones, the Covid-19 Tracing app keeps records of who a person meets. If a user or contact is confirmed to be positive, it will send notifications to everybody on that list, advising them to self-isolate.

The contact trace app, which was developed at breakneck speed over the past three months, with now 5,000 users, was donated to the Ministry of Health National Taskforce to help in fast tracking of contacts.

MPs directs for Reports on Collapsing buildings.

Members of Parliament have tasked the Ministry of Works and Transport to present a detailed report to the House on the rampant collapse of buildings in the city.

This follows a ministerial statement presented to Parliament on Thursday, 21 May 2020 by the Minister of State for Transport on the action taken by the ministry to enforce adherence to building standards and regulations on the numerous accidents occurring at building sites, compensation of affected persons and steps taken to stem the reoccurrence of such accidents.

The Minister of State for Transport, Hon. Joy Kabatsi, said the Building and Construction Board, which is charged with supervising construction sites, has been greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and has not been able to supervise works.

She added that reprobates have taken advantage of this period to put up buildings that have been collapsing. She said only after the lockdown with the return of the engineers responsible that the ministry can be able to fulfill its duty and curtail such mishaps.

“If there are buildings coming up in a rush during this period, we need to wait for the appropriate time for our engineers to intervene,” she added.

However, the MPs found the minister’s statement unsatisfactory adding that the matter was dire and required expeditious action from the ministry.

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, remarked: “Is the Ministry of Works closed? If not, then the engineers ought to report back to duty and handle the matter”.

She added that collapsing buildings should constitute an emergency situation that dictates express action from the engineers in charge of supervising of the buildings.

The Butemba County NRM MP, Hon. Pentagon Kamusiime added that the systems within the government must be functional regardless of the prevailing situation.

“We need an assurance from the minister that means are devised within the ministry to manage these unscrupulous actions,” he added.

Hon. Joy Ongom (UPC, District Woman Lira) further said that the minister was seemingly not in charge if she cannot take charge of the matter.

“Buildings, time immemorial have been collapsing and this is not the first time so the lockdown due to the pandemic should not be an excuse. The minister ought to take this seriously,” Ongom added.

Hon. Robert Ssekitoleko, (NRM, Nakifuma County) and Chairperson of the Committee on Physical Infrastructure said that in an interaction with Executive Secretary of the Building and Construction Board, he ascertained that it was poorly funded.

“From its inception, the Board does not have sufficient funding to execute its mandate which involves supervising building construction projects,” he supplemented.

Hon. Ssekitoleko, however, said that a provision for money amounting to Shs 6 billion for the Budget of the Financial Year 2020/2021 was made to operationalise the Board.

The Speaker directed that the minister deploys the concerned engineers to do ground work on the matter and report back to Parliament the following week.

Government to reduce Cargo trucks

Government is in the process of limiting the number of cargo trucks entering the country by road as part of the new measures to curtail the spread of the deadly coronavirus. 

It wad noted that the move was informed by the shortage of testing kits vis-à-vis the number of truck drivers entering the country on a daily basis. More than 1,000 truck drivers enter Uganda every day and all these must be tested at the border points.

Ms Robinah Nabbanja, the State minister of Health for General Duties, stated that there was an ongoing inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the matter as one of the measures to decongest Mutukula, Malaba and Elegu border posts which, according to Health minister Dr Jane Aceng, have become epicentres of the new Covid-19 infections in the country.

“Previously, we were testing drivers and allowing them to proceed and get their results later but this strategy was changed,” Ms Nabbanja said, adding: “Today, there is congestion at Malaba to the extent that the queue of truck drivers waiting to be tested and getting their results stretches 50kms into Kenya and 15kms inside Uganda.”

Ms Nabbanja revealed the new government plot on Tuesday as Ministry of Health officials led by Dr Aceng received an assortment of medical supplies from the Inter Government Authority on Development (Igad). Dr Aceng explained that Uganda’s borders and the neighbouring communities have become the new sources of infections.

“Elegu right now is where most Ugandans are getting infected. Yesterday (Monday), we registered 12 Ugandan drivers who tested positive. We need protective gear to protect our health workers as they test the drivers,” Dr Aceng said.

Museveni Leaves for Kasese District.

This afternoon of 20th May 2020, His Excellency Yoweri kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda leaves for Kasese district for assessment for tour of the damaged caused by the recent floods in the area.

He Will however address the select group of leaders in the district on the possible long term solution.
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 Kenya Corona Virus cases reaches 1029.

According to the ministry of Health, Kenya, they have Today 20th Day of May recorded the highest number of Corona virus case since the out brake of pandemic.

The total cases recorded Today is 66 with 64 being Kenyans and 2 being foriegners totalling to 1029 cases.