The Minister of Works and Transport Gen. Katumba Wamala has expressed concern over the growing rate of covid-19 transmission in communities, saying government could be forced to reinstate a ban on public transport.
“Fellow Ugandans, it has come to my attention that some taxi operators and motorists are not obeying the COVID-19 guidelines in place. With the increasing cases of community transmission, we may be forced to halt public transport” Gen Katumba Wamala posted on his social media page, today.
Katumba Wamala’s remarks comes a day after Uganda registered 66 confirmed cases, the highest record in one day, on Sunday.
This is the second-highest single-day spike since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Uganda. The highest was recorded in May when up to 84 people tested positive in one day.
The capital Kampala, was early this week declared a hot spot by the Ministry of Health warning that there are a lot of yet to be detected cases as already positive people have been got from the highly populated downtown arcades of Namaganda and Garilaya Plaza.
In Uganda, public transport resumed operations under tight guidelines in mid-July following a four-month lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, reports show non-compliance among operators.
Another 11 of the cases were contacts of previously confirmed cases in Kampala, Namisindwa and Nakaseke districts. Uganda now has a total of 1,500 cases, with 13 deaths registered so far.
On Sunday, Information Minister Judith Nabakooba said that if the number of COVID-19 deaths continues to rise, govt will soon ask all districts to identify designated burial places to handle the dead.