The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a second round of mandatory mass testing for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in Amuru District.
The recommendation follows a situation assessment conducted by a team of case management consultants headed by Dr Michael Mawanda to devise stringent measures for infection prevention and control of the infectious disease, which is transmitted through person to person contact.
Uganda has confirmed up to 1,069 cumulative patients with over 1,000 recoveries, since March 2020. Dr Mawanda said that a team of WHO consultants who were integrated into the risk communication, infection prevention control and surveillance specialists have detected several loopholes that threaten the fight against the virus in Elegu.
According to Dr Mawanda, the consultants have already flagged their findings to the National COVID-19 Task Force for consideration after an increase in community transmission in Amuru, an epitome of the virus.
Amuru District Health Officer Dr Patrick Odong Olwedo says that the authorities have intercepted up to 125 positive cases of COVID-19 in Elegu since interventions launched in March. Of those, over 70 were long-distance cargo truck drivers, 58 community members including 28 security personnel and four individuals who sneaked through the porous entry border points.
Amuru Deputy Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Osborn Oceng told Mega Fm that they have resolved to have compulsory community screening pending availability of test kits from the government.
But despite the threat, life has returned to normal in Elegu and urban centres along the great north highway to South Sudan with roadside bars and boda-boda riders operating in contravention of the Ministry of Health guidelines.
