Another truck driver has tested positive for COVID-19 in Uganda. This brings to four, the number of truck drivers who have tested positive for the viral disease in the country.
The latest case is a 27-year-old Kenyan truck driver who entered Uganda through Eastern Malaba border town on Sunday. He is part of 1,114 truck drivers who were tested for the viral disease on Sunday.
Dr. Henry Mwebesa, the Director General of Health Services, said all efforts are on to find the truck driver.
"We are tracing the driver and hope to find him. The time between, which he was tested and the results released, was not very long. So we don’t think he went very far," Dr. Mwebesa said.
Once found, the driver is expected to provide the list of all the people he came into contact with.
The Ugandan Health Ministry is already tracing over 85 people who are believed to have come into contact with the Ugandan and Kenyan drivers that tested positive for Covid-19 earlier on.
The Ugandan truck driver, who was the first to test positive, is currently receiving treatment at Entebbe General Hospital.
The second case was a Kenyan driver who was driven back to his country. The third case was a Tanzanian national who was traced to Kiryandongo district over the weekend and repatriated to Tanzania.
Uganda’s Health Minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng has cautioned Ugandans along highways against interacting with the truck drivers to contain the spread of the virus.
Uganda is a transit route for thousands of trucks of cargo trucks from Kenya’s port city of Mombasa destined for the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda among others.
Even with the new confirmed case, the Health Ministry insists that Uganda has only 55 COVID-19 confirmed.
Once located, the 27 year old truck driver will be repatriated to Kenya to receive treatment.
Contributed by Ahmed Wetaka, Kampala-Uganda
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