{"id":23289,"date":"2021-12-20T15:36:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T15:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=23289"},"modified":"2021-12-20T14:18:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T14:18:39","slug":"sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm","title":{"rendered":"Sharp rise in Covid cases raises alarm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Plans to fully reopen the economy remain on track despite a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, a minister said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Ms Margaret Muhanga, the State Minister for Primary Healthcare, confirmed official data showing a dramatic rise in infections, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

The test positivity rate, a key metric, jumped from 0.6 percent two weeks ago to 4.4 percent on December 17. On December 4, 34 out of 5,301 samples tested came back positive. On December 17 297 out of 6,680 tested positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to warn you that Covid-19 is still with us,\u201d Ms Muhanga said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy last week, the numbers have started creeping up again. As we speak today, we are testing 200 people positive daily in the last four to five days.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time we reach Christmas when you all take off your masks, you meet your family members, take pictures with the older people, kindly help us get them vaccinated first before you get to the village,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Director of General of Health Services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, in a December 17 statement said they have detected 18 new cases of the omicron variant from incoming travellers from Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria between November 28 and 29.<\/p>\n

He said they had not yet confirmed secondary cases in Uganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of detected Omicron cases has since increased to 25 cases up from the seven cases initially confirmed by the Ministry of Health on December 7th,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Mwebesa appealed to \u201cthe public to remain vigilant and maintain the highest level of adherence to the standard operating procedures during the festive season\u201d.<\/p>\n

About 1.9 million Ugandans have been infected by the virus since the pandemic broke out, and 3,200 have died from it, according to official data.<\/p>\n

About nine million Ugandans have so far received one or two vaccines, less than half of the target of vaccinating 22 million to contain the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Ms Muhanga said 19 million of 30 million vaccine doses acquired through purchase or donations have been dispatched to districts.<\/p>\n

Prof Pontiano Kaleebu, the director of Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), said: \u201cCovid vaccines go a long way in preventing severe disease, hospitalisation and death, but it is not the only way. People have to do other interventions including treatment in case people get sick. Recipients of some vaccines like Pfizer may need to get the third dose for better protection against omicron.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Plans to fully reopen the economy remain on track despite a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, a minister said yesterday. Ms Margaret Muhanga, the State Minister for Primary Healthcare, confirmed official data showing a dramatic rise in infections, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The test positivity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":23288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-23289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nSharp rise in Covid cases raises alarm - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Plans to fully reopen the economy remain on track despite a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, a minister said yesterday. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharp rise in Covid cases raises alarm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Plans to fully reopen the economy remain on track despite a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, a minister said yesterday. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-20T15:36:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/12\/img-61c090aaccae6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Sharp rise in Covid cases raises alarm\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-20T15:36:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm\"},\"wordCount\":409,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/12\/img-61c090aaccae6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-raises-alarm\",\"name\":\"Sharp rise in Covid cases raises alarm - 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