COVID-19 cases continue to decline.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has revealed that there is a consistent reduction in daily confirmed cases following the partial lifting of the lockdown.

This was revealed by the Minister, Dr Jane Ruth Acheng recently while she updated the public on COVID-19 response after the lockdown.

Acheng noted that daily confirmed cases reduced from the peak of 1,735 on July 10, to a new low of 62 on August 15, 2021.

“There is a consistent drop in positivity rate from the highest of 22% to an average of 2.8% to-date. Also, there is a fall in the daily admissions of the severe and critically ill patients from 204 at the peak to less than 50 per day, to-date,” Acheng added.

However, Acheng noted that the reduction in the daily number of deaths remains low due to late presentation to the hospitals. She said that these could be averted if the patients sought medical care early.

“We have noted that a number of patients undergoing Home Based Care present late to the health facilities thereby leading to poor clinical outcomes i.e. 27% of deaths registered occurred minutes within arrival at the COVID-19 Treatment Units,” Acheng said.

Scientists at the Ministry project that the 3rd wave of the pandemic is likely to peak at 4,000 laboratory cases per day, over two times higher than the 2nd wave.

This means that 15% of the patients will require admission at the health facility and about 9,331 patients may require HDU/ICU admissions.

Vaccination is one of the key measures Uganda, just like other countries across the world, is implementing to ensure that her population is protected against the deadly COVID-19 disease.

The Minister revealed that as of August 20, 934,813 people had received the 1st dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine while 333,138 people had received the 2nd dose.

“Vaccination of the population will continue based on the availability of vaccines. All eligible persons will be vaccinated. The population is urged to be patient and wait for guidance from the Ministry of Health,” Acheng remarked.

After a resolution by the Vaccine Acquisition Committee to purchase vaccines through known and reliable sources; Global Sharing mechanisms of COVAX and African Union, the cost sharing agreements for the donations were signed and expression of Interests to procure from these entities confirmed.

The Ministry expects 18 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine for 9 million people expected to arrive in phases beginning October 2021.

9 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from the African Union to cater for 9 million people are expected to begin arriving in September 2021.

The Covax Facility has committed to provide donations of up to 18 million doses to cover 9 million people.

“These developments align our pipeline expectations to cover the 22 million target population plus the additional population of children,” said Acheng.

In regard to false and misleading information about fake vaccine supply in Uganda, Acheng noted with concern that the government has not received any falsified vaccines from India.

She reiterated that all vaccines administered to the population through the designated vaccination sites undergo scrutiny before being administered to the population and are safe, effective and free of charge.