Africa-Press – Uganda. At least 50 legislators are battling with the coronavirus disease that they contracted during a trip to Arusha, Tanzania, for the inter-parliamentary games. The 50, confirmed by Parliament, are nearly half of the travelling party, including Parliament staff that spent 17 days in Arusha.
In scientific speak, these are now super-spreaders. Definitely not the kind of Christmas gift the electorate wished for from their legislators.
The Omicron’s march has pushed authorities globally to impose new restrictions and step up vaccination efforts as the variant threatens to upend imminent reopening plans that many governments hoped would herald the start of a post-pandemic era in 2022.
Uganda has been in and out of lockdown since March 2020 and the government earlier this month, wary of public lockdown fatigue, indicated that the economy would be fully reopened come January in what the Health ministry said would be “with or without Covid-19.”
A return to the strict curbs imposed during the spread of the Delta variant earlier this year is obviously the last thing anyone would wish for. But the resurgence in the spread of the respiratory disease is worrying.
The Omicron variant might not be as deadly as the Delta before it, it is still a strain of the deadly Covid-19 and scientists have not yet been able to predict how this will end. We must err on the side of caution. The fast spread of this diseases calls for authorities to urgently heighten response mechanisms. While some global economies are talking vaccine boosters, we are still grappling with getting the jabs done.
The government must ramp up some restrictions in relation to travels. The Uganda Cranes, for instance, depart for the United Arab Emirates next week for a four-day training camp during which they expect to play two friendly games with nations preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
While Fufa maintains that it will strictly follow the SOPs, news of several tennis superstars such as Spain’s Rafael Nadal and his coach Carlos Moya, as well as Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic and Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur testing positive for Covid-19 after playing in Abu Dhabi should call for caution.
At a time we are planning to fully reopen, Omicron should not be given room to spurn the dire wishes of the populace. Measures are urgently needed to contain the spread of the disease. We must not wait until the Omicron variant becomes deadly to run helter-skelter.
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