Ambulances queue to drop off Covid-19 patients in Uganda’s capital
A second wave of Covid-19 has hit Uganda, with the national referral hospital receiving an unprecedented number of infected patients.
CAPE TOWN, June 4 (ANA) – A second wave of Covid-19 has hit Uganda, with the East African country’s national referral hospital receiving an unprecedented number of infected patients.
An unusual queue of ambulances waiting to drop off Covid-19 patients was seen at the Mulago Hospital in the capital Kampala, reflecting the extent of the crisis, the BBC reported on Friday.
Ainebyoona Emmanuel, senior public relations officer at the Ministry of Health, shared a video of this on social media on Thursday.
Within 24 hours, 40 new Covid-19 patients had been received at the hospital, the BBC said, citing Mulago Hospital executive director Dr. Rosemary Byanyima.
Over 1,000 new Covid-19 cases were recorded on June 1, Uganda’s highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic last year, the British public broadcaster said.
However, on December 10, the World Health Organization (WHO) said 1,859 confirmed cases had been recorded.
The WHO’s situational data clearly illustrates Uganda is into its second wave of the pandemic, the first wave having peaked in December and ended by February this year.
The health ministry has been warning citizens of the second wave since May 27, via its Twitter account.
On Thursday, President Yoweri Museveni and his wife Janet received their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. He urged other Ugandans to get vaccinated.
The country was prioritising “high-risk groups like health workers, teachers, the elderly, security, and people with comorbidities” to receive the vaccine first, the president added.
According to the health ministry’s Emmanuel, there are 50 sites for Ugandans to receive the vaccine in Kampala.
Uganda had recorded a cumulative 48,676 confirmed cases of Covid-19 as of Thursday, with 364 deaths, according to WHO statistics. As of May 31, over 600,000 doses of the vaccine against the virus had been administered.
– African News Agency, Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa