Museveni’s advisor on Lockdown extension …

Lockdown imposed by President Yoweri Museveni has left so many people bored, tired and jobless.

President Museveni reasoned that the lockdown was necessary because the second wave of Covid-19 was getting out of hand for Uganda’s health system.

There have been wide spread allegations that the President will extend the lockdown beyond the 42 days.

He shut down places like schools, worship, shopping, workplaces and international borders in order to contain the spread of the virus.

Lockdown extension

Museveni’s senior advisor Dr. Monica Musenero while appearing on UBC TV programme ‘Behind the headlines’ on Wednesday night told the nation that ‘we may not need to extend’.

Dr. Musenero raised the populations’ hopes: “We may not need to extend the lockdown but that will depend on how the population behaves in the remaining days.”

She revealed: “I’m glad that although having a lockdown isn’t easy, we have begun to see some relief on the healthcare system.”

Covid-19 situation

The ministry of health noted that Uganda is dealing with five different coronavirus variants that have fuelled aggressive transmission as the country enters the second wave of the pandemic.

Dr. Musenero added: “The trend shows that COVID19 cases are going down and that’s a good indicator.”

She went on: “Until we’ve vaccinated enough people in the country to achieve what we call hard immunity, we are going to be in a game of hide and seek with COVID19.”

The President’s senior advisor on epidemics noted: “It’s criminal in Uganda to speak against public health measures. If you don’t support vaccination just shut up. Do not be the reason for the death of others.”

She emphasized: “What we’re now interested in the trend not the absolute cases/numbers. These are some of the indicators we are using to determine the current state of the epidemic.”

Covid Vaccination and Stats

The country has so far received 75,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, donated by the French government through the COVAX facility.

The ministry also revealed that Uganda has administered at least 1,076,923 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 1.2% of the country’s population.

During the last week reported, Uganda averaged about 19,332 doses administered each day. At that rate, it will take a further 458 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population.

Who is Dr. Musenero?

Monica Musenero Masanza is a Ugandan veterinarian, microbiologist and epidemiologist, who serves as a consultant epidemiologist to the government of Uganda and serves as an advisor to the president of Uganda on epidemics and pandemics.