Kadaga Warns MPs against Travel Abroad as Kenya Confirms First Case of Coronavirus

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has advised legislators to avoid traveling abroad as a measure of curbing the spread of the coronavirus in Uganda.

Kadaga on Thursday told MPs that as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in Geneva, Switzerland scheduled for April has been cancelled.

“I want to urge members to desist from traveling because things are really happening. Unless it is necessary, let us stay put in our country because even on the plane, you can sit with people who are sick,” she said.

“The meeting in St. Petersburg [Russia] organized in early June by the Russian Federation Parliament has also been cancelled.”

This comes as Kenya on Friday confirmed her first case of coronavirus. Kenya’s Minister of Health Mutahi Kagwe said on Friday that the patient, who was diagnosed on the night of March 12, had traveled back to Kenya from the United States via London.

According to Daily Monitor, a Chinese national who works with a construction company is currently under self-isolation in a hotel in Gulu after recently returning from China where he had gone for leave. 

Yesterday, David Abala (NRM, Ngora County) raised concern over the safety of Ugandans in light of a planned football match between Ugandan legends and celebrated international African football stars. The French Embassy in Uganda is scheduled to host the annual event dubbed, ‘Uganda-France Friendship’ which will bring former football stars like Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba, from 22 to 28 March 2020. Abala said that most of the stars in question are based in Europe and France, which have registered high cases of the virus.

“In Uganda there is no confirmed case of corona virus. I am worried in this scenario whether we shall be safe with the visit of those very powerful players. This may affect us in terms of spread of the corona virus in Uganda,” he said.

The Minister of State for Sports, Denis Obua, said the French Ambassador in Uganda has held meetings with the Ministry of Health to agree on activities which would not involve those who travel from outside Uganda.

“If there is any decision to either stop any of the activities, we would act under the advice of the Ministry of Health. If we are advised that the French Embassy must go ahead and cancel or postpone, this must be done by the Ministry of Health after assessing all the activities,” he said.

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