The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is raging with vengeance in Uganda and elsewhere in the world. At the beginning of this week, President Yoweri Museveni slapped a new national lockdown for 42 days following the rapid surge in cases averaging over 1,000 on daily basis. Schools, places of worship, huge communal gatherings ie burials, weddings, meetings have been banned for 42 days. Inter-district travels are also suspended. In his national address, the President sounded the directive of stringent adherence to SOPs, which had largely been neglected by the populations thus leading to a surge in cases.
The cases are rife in Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Gulu, Busia and among others. By the time of writing this article, Uganda’s cumulative cases had skyrocketed to 52,935 cases while recoveries stood at 47,760. The death toll was 383. Global cases stand at 173million with close to 4million deaths. Scientists say COVID-19 will only be eliminated if there is a cure, and if all the populations have been vaccinated. Statistics show that over 700,000 people have received the COVID-19 vaccine doses in Uganda with over 4,000 fully vaccinated. Globally, 2.12billion people have received the doses with 458million being fully vaccinated, representing 5.9% of the world population.
Our medical authorities are striving to ensure that at least 21million people are fully vaccinated against the virus. However, following the slow pace of vaccination occasioned by inadequate supplies of the COVID-19 vaccines, we see that we still have a long way to go. Uganda was mainly importing the vaccines from India (AstraZeneca); we are now at fatal odds with India halting vaccine exports following the spontaneous outbreak of the pandemic in the South Asian nation which has affected a large number of her populations. Our local scientists have joined the global collaborative efforts in finding a vaccine and cure; however, this is most likely to take ages considering our lack of resources.
The new Indian variant of the virus is wrecking untold havoc striking both the young and old. However, the young populations in the range of 20-29, 30-39 years are the most vulnerable, according to studies conducted.
The President, in his national address, emphasised that it is very easy to defeat or get rid of this virus if most people adhere to the SOPs. This implies that it is our responsibility as individuals to take care of our lives if we want to live longer and protect our loved ones from infection. As per now, the national healthcare system is overstretched with insufficient beds, oxygen cylinders, ICUs, and even space to accommodate the ever-surging number of COVID-19 patients. The Health Ministry has requested for Shs 1.3trillion to fight the second wave of the virus, and by look of things, Treasury doesn’t have this money. Let’s adhere to the set guidelines of Ministry of Health and SOPs. We can defeat COVID-19!
