This archive report was first published on 5 May 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has extended the lockdown in the country for 14 more days, while introducing measures to mitigate its economic impact on citizens.
Speaking on the lockdown, Museveni emphasized that the government will not tolerate banks and landlords demanding loan repayments and rent from people who are not working, stating, “They don’t have to cancel the loans and rent, they will get paid when people start working all over again.”
He also ordered that face masks become mandatory for all individuals going into public, explaining, “coronavirus can’t fly on its own. It travels from us through droplets, air from us. The mask on the nose and the mask stops the ride of the virus to travel through mucus.”
Furthermore, Museveni ruled out stopping cross-border trucks, saying such a move would mean Uganda is not fighting an intelligent war, and urged Ugandan women to keep away from truck drivers, warning, “Avoid them so that the numbers are not so many and we’re able to concentrate on them.”
Uganda has reported 89 cases of COVID-19, with 55 recoveries and no deaths, making it one of the countries in Africa with the least cases.
