Africa-Press – Uganda. Government statistics indicate a 30 per cent increase in reported cases of infections in the last 16 days, from May 1 to 16 compared to the previous 16 days. The numbers are up to 957 detected cases from May 1-16 compared to 663 cases which were reported from April 15-30.
This spike in numbers is most likely among other reasons due to violation of Covid-19 health guidelines which were put in place by Ministry of Health to prevent the spread of the virus.
It is now not uncommon to find zero observance of social distancing in public places or disregard of calls to wear masks or hand sanitise. Washing hands with soap and clean running water is now a thing of the past.
Even when Covid-19 continues to ravage the world, Uganda inclusive, we seem to have normalised and trivialised the pandemic. Not to sound alarmist but if the statistics mentioned above are anything to go by, trouble might be brewing for us all.
In a Daily Monitor story of May 20 titled, “Covid-19 cases increase by 30 per cent”, health experts warn that we could end up like India if we disregard the numbers and keep abusing the set health guidelines. In this regard, Prof Francis Omaswa, the head of the community prevention arm of national Covid-19 task force has asked government to increase enforcement of Standard Operating Procedures and village Covid-19 task forces.
Ignoring such calls is akin to looking on as a small candle fire flares up to into a big uncontrollable house fire. It is good to hear media messages encouraging eligible people to go for Covid-19 vaccination.
Government and othstakeholders should add to these calls for vaccination, intensified messages emphasising the need to continue observing SOPs as the ones that have been airing seem to have run their course of effectiveness. Our newly sworn in Members of Parliament and other leaders all the way down to the community grassroots should be making this the big issue that it is by prioritising it in their action points.
It is imprudent to keep discussing statistics without following up these revelation with action effective enough to control a situation that is slowly getting out of hand. The number of Covid-19 cases can only be effectively contained and reduced if communities are truly aware of how dire the situation could get.
The most effective action in this instance would be aggressive sensitisation and awareness drives to encourage enforcement of SOPs. Short of this, like Prof Omaswa said, the outbreak could flare up like it happened in India such that by the time we start behaving properly, it will be too late.
