Uganda’s 21 days of lockdown end tomorrow, May 5, and President Yoweri Museveni is expected to address the country today about the way forward. Former President of the Uganda Medical Association, Dr Ekwaro Obuku says Uganda should not think of extending lockdown.
Obuku says though government still needs to prioritize COVID-19, it now needs to handle it alongside other programs and not cause situations where hunger is going to pop up.
“What has worked for us most is awareness and sensitization. Uganda has moved away from the containment phase, we should now look at mitigating the effects of the COVID-19,” Obuku says.
He adds, “The burden of COVID-19 does not warrant the continuation of the lockdown, we need to adjust. We might never get the vaccine, we have to learn to live with the virus like we do with malaria.”
He says the Ministry of Health has done almost everything right but the government needs to invest more money in the existing healthcare systems. Ministry of Health is currently conducting a random assessment survey. This survey intends to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 among communities in Uganda. Two cases have been confirmed during the survey.