With roughly only 6 days left to the end of the lockdown imposed by the President to combat the spread of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health has introduced a rapid survey program to lead on lifting the COVID -19 lockdown.
The Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, says this survey will involve a representative population of people that are vulnerable to the COVID -19 pandemic.
Among the vulnerable include truck drivers and people in communities along their routes on transit, health workers, market vendors, fishing communities, Taxi drivers, LDUs, and religious leaders.
The survey will estimate the community prevalence of the virus.
Dr.Acheng says these people will be subjected to the antibody test, where blood will be removed to prove if they have been infected before and the body has developed antibodies.
The other test will be the nasal and throat swabs for COVID-19 tests.
Dr.Acheng notes that the survey is necessary and timely because considering that Uganda has registered 20 cases of COVID-19 attributed to truck drivers.
She says the infected have already traveled through the country yet not all contacts of the initial patients that have been treated or even tested in time.
She says about 20,000 Ugandans will be asked brief information about themselves before blood and a nasopharyngeal swab will be collected to test for COVID -19.
The key question of the new survey is; Where is Corona Virus Disease COVID -19 in the community?
Dr. Aceng said it’s better to do this assessment now when the lockdown is still on with fewer population movements.
Uganda to date has 79 cases, the latest being imported from Kenyan and Tanzanian drivers.
No community case has tested positive in the past two weeks and 47 people have since been discharged after testing negative.
