By.Damba Rogers
The health Minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng reveals that changes to the specifications of masks have caused delivery delays resulting in partial distribution at border districts.
According to Dr. Aceng so far 17 border districts have received masks noting that this cannot go without challenges.
She adds that they had planned to distribute masks to border districts for two weeks by the change in specifications resulted in halting on the manufacturing of the masks.
Even though distribution started in border districts, several people have not yet received the masks and this can be evidenced with yesterday’s demonstration in the eastern border district of Busia.
Over 20 million Ugandans aged between 5 and above are to receive a mask under the national masks distribution exercise aimed at curbing the spread of COVID19.
On receiving mobile ambulances donated to the EAC member state by the Germany government to help in the fight against epidemics like Ebola, Marburg, Cholera among other diseases, the health minister mentioned that the facilities are to strengthen the capacity of the EAC partner states to detect and respond to pathogens of biosafety level 3 and 4major.
Under the EAC regional network of public health reference laboratories for communicable diseases project the Germany government agreed to provide the member states with nine level 3 and 4 mobile laboratories to the regional member states.
But the director, public health laboratories, Dr. Susan Ndidde Nabada assures the public that the mobile laboratories provide accurate sample results just like the ones provided by the stationed laboratories among them, UVRI.
She adds that the mobile laboratories that will be stationed at border points can do 800 samples daily.
So far Uganda has registered 23 recent cases from 3,316 samples tested making cumulative confirmed cases of Uganda now to 1000.
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