The Ministry of Health has raised a red flag, indicating that the country could be on the verge of a third wave of Covid-19.
While addressing the media this afternoon, Health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng painted a gloomy picture of Uganda’s Covid-19 situation, revealing that at least 2,400 cases have been recorded in December alone.
“The country’s positivity rate consistently remained under 5% which is the desirable positivity rate and indicates control of the pandemic. However, in the last two weeks, we began to observe an increase in the numbers of confirmed cases,” she said.
“In the last 14 days of December 2021, we have registered 2,423 confirmed cases, giving an average of 173 cases per day. We have registered 100% increase in cases and positivity in the last 7 days compared to the previous week.”
Although Uganda has officially registered only 73 cases of the Omicron variant, Aceng said the picture in the communities could be different given that Omicron is largely responsible for the surging numbers in many countries around the world.
“The high transmissibility of the Omicron and ongoing festivities warrant that we comply with the SOPs so as to avoid mortalities and shield the fragile health sector,” Aceng said.
She said Covid-19 vaccination remains one of the key strategic interventions to control the pandemic, especially with the emergence of new variants.
The ministry of Health recommended booster doses, for persons aged 50 years and above, and persons with co-morbidities to further enhance their immunity.
Aceng said one can get a booster dose at least 6 months after completing the primary Covid-19 vaccination series.
The objective of a booster dose is to restore vaccine effectiveness from that deemed no longer sufficient and the rationale for booster doses may differ by vaccine product, epidemiological setting, risk group, and vaccine coverage rates.
