Uganda mulls public transport ban amid COVID-19 fight

Scientists have asked the President to consider stopping public transport, and imposing strict lockdown for three weeks as a part of the immediate government response to the escalating Covid-19 infections in the country.

The temporary Covid-19 taskforce convened on Thursday assessed the current Covid-19 trajectory.

The team came up with a 14-point plan including a proposed ban on public transport, citing gross violation of Ministry of Health standard operating procedures (SOPs) and rising infections in the sector.

Ministry of Health officials have described the new measures as “consistent with the thoughts” about reversing the second wave of a pandemic that has so far killed 362 people in Uganda and about 200 are admitted in various hospitals fighting for their lives.

The government on Thursday confirmed Covid-19 infections in 29 schools in 17 districts and one death.

During the first wave of the pandemic in March last year, government instituted a nationwide lockdown that lasted for almost three months.