It’s real: WHO, Health Ministry warn Ugandans after Namisindwa Covid19 Death

Uganda’s Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have confirmed the country’s first Covid19 death, with a warning against complacence.

Results from samples taken from the body woman who had succumbed to Coronavirus-like disease confirmed that the 34-year-old woman from Namisindwa District had died of Covid19.

Found in Bugisu sub-region, Namisindwa borders with Bududa District to the north, Kenya to the east and south, Tororo District to the south-west, and Manafwa District to the west.

ReadUganda confirms first Covid19 death

Announcing the first death during a July 23 press conference in Kampala, MoH and WHO officials warned Ugandans to take preventive guidelines seriously.

Dr Henry Mwebesa, the Director General of Health Services at MoH, clarified that

Dr Richard Kabanda, the acting Commissioner for Health Services Promotion at MoH, said Uganda’s first Covid19 death was “critical and an eye opener for the general public.”

“Many people thought Uganda had no Covid19 or it was different from what the rest of the world is facing. But we have now seen that Covid19 is real, dangerous and kills.”

WHO Representative to Uganda Yonas Tegegn Woldermariam emphasized that “the community must follow public health preventive measures: wear a mask always, wash hands frequently or use a hand sanitizer and maintain social distancing.”

Meanwhile, Dr Mwebesa assured Ugandans MoH the Namisindwa district surveillance teams and the District Task Force had undertaken urgent identification of the source of infection, the possible transmission lines and the extent of community exposure.

“The current interventions are aimed at limiting and controlling secondary transmissions arising out of this case-patient,” he said.

“In terms of COVID-19 surveillance and mechanisms for case detection, Namasindwa is one of the best performing districts with average daily reporting standing at 100 per cent.”

All 263 alert samples collected from Namisindwa since May 2020 had tested negative.

As of July 23, Uganda had 1,079 cumulative confirmed cases of Ugandans and a total of 971 Ugandan recoveries.