Prime
Covid: Scientists ask govt to restrict travellers from high-risk countries
Patients breath with the help of oxygen masks inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a Covid-19 coronavirus ward in New Delhi on April 27, 2021. More than ten countries have put travel restrictions on travellers from Covid- stricken India. PHOTO/AFP
What you need to know:
- The variants are more transmissible and we see in countries such as India, young people are being greatly affected by the new coronavirus variants.
Scientists have asked the government to restrict travellers from countries with high prevalence of new variants of coronavirus to protect the country from the second wave of the pandemic.
Dr Misaki Wayengera, the chairman of the Ministry of Health scientific advisory committee on Covid-19, yesterday highlighted Kenya, India and the United Kingdom among the countries that government should restrict.
“We have to deal with the importation of variants. Everyone who is travelling from India, the United Kingdom and Kenya should be tested and those who are positive should be isolated until they have recovered before they are allowed to mix with the population,” Dr Misaki said.
“The variants are more transmissible and we see in countries such as India, young people are being greatly affected by the new coronavirus variants,” he said.
Dr Misaki said this contrasts with early variants that were majorly affecting old people.
He asked Ugandans to embrace Covid-19 vaccination, saying the new variants have a higher chance of emerging from communities where people are not vaccinated.
The health expert said both the old and new variants can be stopped by simple preventive measures such as wearing facemasks, social distancing, hand-washing and hand sanitising.
Both the UK and South African variants of the coronavirus have been detected in the country, according to Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).
In a letter to Daily Monitor earlier, Dr Misaki asked Ugandans and government to borrow a leaf from the deadly resurgence of the virus in countries such as Brazil and India.
A health worker collects a swab samples for a RT-PCR COVID-19 Coronavirus test at a community centre in New Delhi on April 28, 2021. PHOTO/AFP
Observation
“What we see taking place in India, Brazil and now Kenya as far as Covid-19 resurgences are concerned seems to be farfetched and yet are real stories. Unfortunately, by not paying attention to the circumstances that surrounded these countries’ precedence to this moment, we lose insight into our own vulnerability,” the letter read in part.
Dr Mukuzi Muhereza, the general secretary of Uganda Medical Association, said the deaths in India are mainly among those who are not vaccinated.
Of the target 22 million Ugandans that government plans to inoculate, a total of 304,030 Ugandans have been vaccinated, the Ministry of Health indicates.
Dr Mukuzi asked government to work out strategies to increase vaccination of the population, and emphasise adherence to preventive measures.
Caution
“Everyone who is travelling from India, United Kingdom and Kenya should be tested and those who are positive should be isolated until they have recovered before they are allowed to mix with the population to prevent the spread of the new variants,” Dr Misaki Wayengera, chairman of the Ministry of Health scientific advisory committee on Covid-19.
