President Yoweri Museveni has directed the ministry of health to test all Political aspirants, for COVID-19 before engaging in any form of political campaigns.
The directive comes at a time when there is a growing concern over the increasing number of community infections especially in the greater Kampala Metropolitan area but also the increasing number of deaths.
According to a tweet, by the National Resistance Movement (NRM), Museveni who also doubles as their party chairman asked that all candidates are tested before they interact with voters so as to avoid the spread of the deadly virus.
“The president gave directives to the Health Minister to write to every political party so that they can be invited for mandatory testing for Coronavirus. We are waiting for the minister to write to all political parties over the same,” NRM Secretary General, Justine Kasule Lumumba said while appearing on a talk show on Salt TV on Saturday.
Kasule Lumumba said the directive followed recent developments that saw two staff at the ruling NRM secretariat test positive of the virus, prompting several others to be quarantined.
“Every registered party and all the people that have come out to contest under that party will have to be tested before they interact with voters. The Ministry of Health is working hand in hand with the Electoral Commission to ensure those in elective politics and are interacting with the population are educated on what to do but also testing after every two weeks,” she said.
On Saturday, Uganda recorded a fourth Coronavirus death when a 61-year-old female resident of Kiyimbi, Nakulabye, a Kampala suburb passed on at Mulago hospital.
According to the Health Ministry, “She had symptoms consistent to COVID-19 which include cough, fever, chest pain and difficulty in breathing.”
The country also registered 21 new positive COVID-19 cases. 10 of the confirmed cases were returnees who recently entered the country while six were truck drivers. Four contacts and two community alerts also tested positive.
As of Saturday, Uganda had a total of 1,176 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with and 1,045 recoveries