By Frank Kamuntu
The Ministry of Health has revealed new techniques of using face masks to combat the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), shortly after registering 15 new infections, which raises the number of confirmed cases to 160.
The Minister for Health Hon. Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, during her National Address on COVID-19 held Thursday, guided Ugandans by revealing that there are two kinds of masks non-medical and Medical masks that include N95, KN95.
She noted however that medical masks should be preserved for health workers in health facilities and should not be reusable since they are highly contaminated by various infectious organisms.
Minister Aceng said that the members of the public should use non-medical masks that consist of a two-layered cotton fabric with a filter material e.g tissue or polypropylene, the material often used for non-plastic shopping bags, which can be placed between the 2 layers to improve the mask’s quality.
According to the Minister, when a double cloth mask is used with a filter inside, its protectiveness is over 95%. However, this should be worn by people aged 6 years and above.
She noted that since children aged 2- 6 years cannot take care of their masks and observe hygiene, their parents were advised to only make them wear masks under close supervision, and that children below 2 years should not wear a mask since they have small lung capacity.
Her remarks came shortly after the Ministry of Health had registered more 15 new COVID-19 cases, thereby raising the number of infections in Uganda to 160.
Some of the new cases include 10 truck drivers who arrived in Uganda from South Sudan via Elegu, while 5 cases are among community samples who were under quarantine at the time of testing.
However, on the same day (Thursday), 21 positive foreign truck drivers were handed over to their country of origin as a way of restrict further spread of the virus in Uganda, which brings the total foreign truck drivers handed over to their country of origin since the Presidential directive to 145.
Meanwhile, the samples of truck drivers tested at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) on Thursday were 2,101 and among these 628 were community samples, summing up to 2729 as total samples tested in the whole day, thereby maintaining Uganda’s total recoveries at 66, with no deaths recorded.
