Uganda reports first Covid-19 death

Uganda has registered its first Covid-19 death since it began reporting coronavirus cases in March this year, the Ministry of Health has announced.

The victim, a 34-year-old female support worker at a health facility in the eastern border district of Namisindwa, succumbed six days after falling sick, the Director-General of Health Services, Dr Henry Mwebesa said on Thursday.

“The victim presented all symptoms including a fever, dry cough, and difficulty in breathing,” Dr Mbwebesa said, adding that “she was initially treated a health centre II in Namisindwa and when her situation deteriorated further she was transferred to Joy Hospice Hospital in Mbale where she succumbed.”

Dr Mwebesa said she was confirmed Covid-19 positive posthumously at four different laboratories including the Mobile Lab in Tororo, the Makerere University Laboratory and the Central Public Health Lab at Butabika.

The Health Ministry said the victims’ 30 contacts, who are mainly family members, have been traced and placed under quarantine.

But Dr Mwebesa said the government is yet to identify the source of the infection.

“As of now we don’t know where she got infected from and we are trying to urgently identify the source.”

Uganda confirmed its first Covid-19 case in March. By Thursday, cases stood at 1,079 with 958 recoveries.

Dr Mwebesa clarified that the victim, first believed to be Kenyan, was later confirmed to be a Ugandan.