Covid-19: President Museveni to Address Nation Tomorrow

President Yoweri Museveni will Wednesday evening address the country on “the Covid-19 situation and related issues”, Lindah Nabusayi, his senior press secretary said Tuesday morning.

According to Nabusayi, the address, which will be broadcasted through radio and television, will kick off at 8pm.

There’s a lot Ugandans are hoping for from this address, especially regarding the re-opening of schools, and some businesses like bars and entertainment events. A report released by the National Planning Authority on Tuesday indicated that the number of Covid cases will decrease from the previous week’s daily average of actual reported cases of about 140 to around 115.

“For the week of 19th to 25th September, an average of 110 new cases per day and a weekly total of 771 new cases are projected,” reads the report.

“For the week of 26th Sept to 2th October, a daily average of 117 new cases and a weekly total of 819 is projected. These projections are lower than last week’s in part due to a decline in the number of reported cases over the past two weeks.”

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that the number of admissions in both government and private hospitals has increased from 366 in August to 426 as of 12 September. However, the number of critical cases has decreased with both government and private hospitals having 17 cases as of 12th September.

Since the vaccination exercise began, Uganda has brought in 2,799,920 doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Moderna. Yesterday, the U.S. government donated an additional 1,674,270 doses of Pfizer vaccine.

Uganda's strategy is to vaccinate 22 million people, translating to 49.8% of the population. The first phase will cover people with comorbidities that are 18 years and above, elderly aged 50 and above, health workers, teachers, and security personnel.

In the second phase, anyone 18 years and above will be immunized and, in the third phase, children below 18 will be immunized following recommendations from the Scientific Advisory Committee.