By Spy Uganda
A few days after the Watoto Church announced that 14 of their church choir members are infected with the deadly Coronavirus and currently quarantined in Uganda, we have learnt that at least 80 other Watoto Church choir members are still stuck in Canada and the United Kingdom because of the pandemic.
Information from our sources at Watoto Church indicates that those stuck in UK and Canada include four teams of church choir members and their Chaperones, who had all travelled to both countries for performances at various churches before the outbreak of COVID-19, which saw them get stuck there after all flights were grounded.
“They had all gone to perform at church functions under Watoto Ministries, but when COVID-19 broke out, it became very difficult to evacuate them to Uganda because Canada and the UK had grounded all their flights and suspended operations at their airports,” the source at Watoto Church who preferred anonymity told this reporter.
“That means that even if they want to return to Uganda they cannot because president Yoweri Museveni recently issued a directive suspending all passenger flights at Entebbe International Airport, as a way of preventing the spread of Coronavirus,” the Source added.
However, the Source, who declined to divulge more details because they are not the official spokesperson for Watoto Church, did not reveal whether there is any infected choir member among those stuck either in the UK or Canada.
It should be noted that although in his Tuesday night national address about Coronavirus Museveni had revealed that only 11 Watoto Church choir members had been diagnosed with Coronavirus, the Church leadership on Wednesday issued a statement indicating that actually they had registered 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
However, all that notwithstanding, the Management of Watoto Church is yet to issue an official statement about their choir members in the UK and Canada and how they are fairing. Not even Pastor Gary Skinner, the proprietor of Watoto Ministries, has said a thing about the saga.
MoH Plans To Shift Isolation Centre To Namboole
Hence, although the current number of COVID-19 registered cases stands at 44, a statement issued by Watoto Church on Wednesday which indicates an additional 3 patients, brings the total number of infections to 47.
This website has thus learnt that as numbers increase, the Ministry of Health (MoH) is likely to shift the national COVID-19 Isolation Centre to Mandela National Stadium, popularly known as Namboole Stadium.
This revelation was made by the MoH Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine while appearing before parliament on Wednesday, where she told legislators that once Mulago Referral Hospital gets overwhelmed the only option they have is Namboole stadium.
Dr Atwine said that “We still have the situation under control, with Mulago Hospital and Grade B in Entebbe currently operating as our main isolation centres. However, when Mulago Hospital gets a spillover we shall have no option but to use Namboole stadium as the main isolation centre.”
Dr Atwine added that “We are finalizing plans to set up a mobile hospital that will be used to respond to emergencies and for isolation of all cases.”
She revealed however that all the patients that were subjected to quarantine after testing positive with Coronavirus are recuperating and responding positively to medication.
