By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The Ministry of Health has confirmed sixteen (16) new COVID-19 cases from samples tested on August 11, 2020 rising total infections to 1,313, 9 deaths and 1,137 recoveries.
Out of the sixteen (16) confirmed cases; twelve (12) are alerts, two (2) are contacts to previously confirmed cases, one (1) is a truck driver who arrived from South Sudan via Elegu Point of Entry and one (1) is a returnee from Kenya who was under quarantine at the time of test.
Regarding the twelve (12) alerts, eight (8) are from Namisindwa, three (3) from Tororo and one (1) from Kampala Metropolitan Area.
The two (2) contacts to previously confirmed cases are from Adjumani District.
Eleven (11) Kenyan truck drivers tested positive for COVID-19 at the border points of entry and their entry into the country was not permitted.
Samples from points of entry tested were 1,473, with 777 samples from Alerts and Contacts, making 2,250 number of samples tested the whole day, totaling to 301,280 cumulative COVID-19 samples tested since the outbreak.
These come at a time when the number of COVID-19 infections in Africa continue to rise even as states continue to embark on gradually reopening their economies after months-long shutdowns.
According to the latest data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the continent had reported 1,047,218 confirmed cases and 23,253 deaths by Monday.
South Africa remains the worst-hit country in Africa, having registered 559,859 cases and 10,408 fatalities.
The figures represent 53.5 percent of Africa’s confirmed infections and 44.8 percent of its deaths.
Egypt is the second worst-hit country on the continent, having recorded 95,492 infections and 5,009 deaths.
Besides South Africa and Egypt, only two other countries, Nigeria (46,577) and Ghana (41,003), have reported over 40,000 COVID-19 cases.
In terms of fatalities, Algeria (1,302) is the only other country besides South Africa and Egypt to record over 1,000 deaths.
On the brighter side however, the data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the continent has reported 733,375 recoveries so far, representing a recovery rate of over 70 percent.
