Uganda goes into total lockdown as coronavirus infections rise

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday, June 18 tightened restrictions in the country following a worrying rise in COVID-19 infections and deaths.

On a day when the country recorded 42 Covid-related deaths and 1,000 new infections, the Ugandan leader vowed to “stop the joke” of the public violating the public health guidelines, known locally as the Standard Operating Procedures [SOP].

He stopped the movement of public and private transport vehicles. Only security, emergency and other essential service providers, including the police, firefighters and the military have been exempted.

The new move tightened restrictions imposed a week ago, when cross-district travel was banned, schools closed and other public gatherings restricted yet the deaths continued to rise.

42 deaths

At the Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital Kampala, a ‘technical fault’ on Wednesday, June 16 cut off oxygen supply to Covid-19 patients at the facility, leading to the death of several patients. The new highest death toll arrived two days later when the country reported 42 deaths, raising the number of those killed by the virus to more than 400.