As you are all aware, a new COVID-19 variant has been allegedly identified in Southern Africa. The same variant has also been detected in New Zealand, England, Brazil, France, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hungary and other places. As a result, travel from a number of S.African countries like Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, S.Africa and Zimbabwe has been banned or restricted by the UK, Japan and other countries.
Although no case of the new variant has been reported in Uganda, this serves as a clear reminder to every Ugandan and visitor, that this pandemic is far from over yet. This is the third occasion that the deadly variant has popped up. And as long as the virus is detected anywhere, it still poses a threat to our country.
We want to further remind Ugandans that we are entering the festive season, where we expect an increase in COVID-19 violations. This therefore, calls for increased visibility and enforcement, because of the potential of high transmission rates that may arise due to an increase mobility, gatherings, celebrations, and thanksgiving parties. Right now many Ugandans have relaxed and are not following the health SOPs of physical distancing and mask wearing.
We want to urge citizens to reduce on the burden of COVID-19, by doing all they can to reduce any new transmissions by increasing vigilance and observing the COVID-19 protocols.The public should know that people who are not vaccinated, have greater risks of getting effected, than people who are vaccinated. For those who are still indecisive, vaccines are made in order to protect people from very severe consequences of human infectious diseases and other diseases that vaccines are used for.
We want to thank H.E The President and the Ministry of Health for making huge efforts to get the vaccines into the country, for all eligible persons to reduce severe disease in vulnerable groups
CP Enanga Fred
Police Spokesperson
29th November 2021
