Prime
Take your health and safety serious
The number of people getting infected with Covid-19 and others who are dying continues to rise. And last Saturday, the country received with sadness the passing of the Second Deputy Prime Minister Kirunda Kivejinja due to Covid-19.
Arguably, Kivejinja had the capacity to access good and fast treatment. This is why his death and that of many others of similar status tell of the extent to which Covid-19 has become to human life.
However, we should not shake our heads in disbelief about what is happening. The Ministry of Health had told the country that the festive season would be a time when the cases of both infections and cases would rise because many people would want to interact with others as they usually do.
Indeed, the country registered its highest infections, 702, on December 6 alone. The situation is such that foreign countries have alerted their citizens to avoid visiting the countryside because the risk of being infected is high.
Travel advisory companies online have also taken to advising those planning to make trips to Uganda to beware of this risk.
Expedia.com, for example, states that when one is looking for a hotel in Uganda, that, this destination may have Covid-19 travel restrictions in place, including specific restrictions for lodging. Check any national, local, and health advisories for this destination before you book.”
Ugandans need to be reminded about the dangers of being lax and what Covid-19 can do.
Because many people are asymptomatic, and a big number have survived and told their stories on many social media platforms, many believe that they will be able to make it, in case they get infected. This is evident the way many people are not observing the SOPs, and how the authorities or management of various organisations or companies are not effectively enforcing the SOPs.
One has to read about what happened recently when Nigerian artistes Stanley Omah Didia, aka Omah Lay, and Temilade Openiyi, alias Tems, were arrested along with event organisers, for staging a gala. The artistes were eventually released.
But given that many people attended this event without masks, washing hands, or observing social distancing is quite absurd. It is important that we take issues relating to our health and safety more serious.
Covid-19 kills the young and old, the rich and the poor, etc. We should stop thinking that we are invincible. The time to be safe is now.
