Is Covid-19 on the way out of Uganda?

Ministry of Health statistics dated Saturday, April 9, shows that out of the 2,677 people tested that day, only 3 were found positive and none of them were symptomatic enough to need hospitalisation.

That represents a sharp decline from January 16, 2022, when 435 were hospitalized, the highest number this year, and a test positivity rate of 0.1 percent.

This is good news at a time when the entire country is fully open including churches, public transport, nightclubs, and bars that were a major worry for the government only a few months ago.

This is also at a time when Covid-prevention guidelines like wearing a mask, regular sanitising, and social distancing are no longer followed rigorously by the public, a sign that we could finally be out of the danger zone.

Health experts have attributed the decline to Covid-19 vaccination coverage which is at nine million Ugandans currently (double vaccinated) and the current variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, which very is mild. The other probable cause for this is herd-immunity as studies from World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that three-thirds of all Africans may have already had covid and recovered, hence the antibodies to fight off the disease.

Starvation in China due to Covid-19 lockdown

This comes at a time when in China, the Covid-19 lockdowns are driving people crazy in cities like Shanghai where according to global media giant, Sky News, the lockdown is about to cause ‘civil unrest’.

There are viral videos in which someone films people screaming with frustration from apartment windows in Shanghai amid reports of food shortages and a drone appears from the sky with a voice saying, "Please comply with Covid-19 restrictions. Control your desire for freedom".

One foreign resident of Puxi district, quoted by Sky News, who wished to remain anonymous because of potential repercussions, said:

"It's a dire situation here in Shanghai. I've got friends who have run out of food, their communities don't help them as they are foreigners, no information to let us know what's going on and it seems more and more panic seems to be causing breakouts of fights between the locals as everyone is starving.”

The current wave of covid-19 in China started in mid-March and on March 27, China announced the lockdown. In Uganda and across Africa, Covid-19 has been relatively less dangerous in terms of mass mortality compared to the rest of the world.