Kampala Capital City Authority has given 7 days to shopping arcades, to strictly revert to compliance to the Ministry of Health (MOH) guidelines in the fight against COVID-19, or get closed.
The directive was issued today by the Minister for Kampala City Hon Betty Amongi in light of rising cases of coronavirus infection in the country. Betty Amongi was addressing the media about KCCA’s Update on COVID-19 Response in Kampala.
Amongi says, upon snap inspections conducted recently, majority of arcades in Kampala city were found to still have weak areas to rectify so as to conform to the standards. The targeted arcades were not observing social distance/overcrowding, no functional toilets, obstruction in corridors and poor ventilation.
The archades at risk of closure include: Mini-Price center, Vienna Bisness center, Boost Complex, Arro Complex, Naigga Chambers, Tropical Com[lex, Senna Arcjade, Masaka Jubilee, SB Plaza, King Fahad, Sun City, Lucky Complex (Kisenyi), Serwaniko Music Center (Kyaggwe Road), Faibah Archade, City Center Complex, MM Plaza, Namaganda Plaza, Freeman Foundation Center, MBK Spare Center (Mackay Road) and Energy Center.
Business operations in shopping arcades resumed last month in Uganda following easing of a foutr-month lockdown due to covid-19 which was announced in March. However, the re-opening was tagged to various SOPs which were supposed to be adhered to.
Reports and on-spot checks however indicate that majority of the population conducting business in the arcades and other businesses in the city show complacency towards SOPs which authorities have attributed to the rising cases of infections in the country.
Uganda has so far registered more than 1500 confirmed cases of coronavirus with the infection currve rising recently following the re-opening of sectors of the economy including public transport and shopping archades.