KAMPALA: The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 has crossed the 500 threshold, raising concern that the country is headed for a repeat of the June 2021 scenario.
With only a couple of days to Christmas, results of Covid-19 tests done on 20 December 2021 confirm 502 new cases out of 5,863 samples tested, putting the test positivity rate at 8.5%.
The last four days have been returning positive tests of between 200 and 270 people.
The cumulative confirmed cases are 130,178. Cumulative recoveries (98,102). Active cases on admission (85).
The most cases are being reported in Wakiso (199), Kampala (238), Kyotera (12), Mbarara (6), Arua (5), Gulu (5) and Jinja (3).
State Minister for Primary Healthcare Margaret Muhanga warns that there is a dramatic rise in infections, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
“I want to warn you that Covid-19 is still with us. By last week, the numbers have started creeping up again. As we speak today, we are testing 200 people positive daily in the last four to five days. By the time we reach Christmas when you all take off your masks, you meet your family members, take pictures with the older people, kindly help us get them vaccinated first before you get to the village,” Ms Muhanga said.
The Director of General of Health Services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, in a December 17 statement said they have detected 18 new cases of the omicron variant from incoming travellers from Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria between November 28 and 29.