The government is planning to procure facemasks and distribute them to all Ugandans at no cost as the country moves closer to lifting the COVID-19 lockdown.
According to a top source, the cabinet agreed that the government distributes facemasks to all its citizens. This is in preparation for a partial lifting of the lockdown on 19th May to mark the end of another 14 days since President Yoweri Museveni extended the guidelines.
A source said that President Museveni is expected to open up more sectors to allow Ugandans to return to normal business except for the public transport system and entertainment industry such as bars and disco clubs.
Last week during the National Prayer Breakfast, Museveni emphasized the use of facemasks while in public.
As a result, the government will from the effect of 19th May, make it compulsory to wear a facemask in public. It is the same reason, the government wants to procure and distribute them freely to all Ugandans. Since last week, police authorities had started blocking people from entering the city without a facemask.
Meanwhile, the government Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL) has received 15,000 COVID-19 test kits for the cobas 8800, a real-time PCR machine.
The cobas 8800 has the capacity of running 3,000 tests per day and about 192 tests per hour. Testing for COVID-19 at CPHL started on 17th May.
