By Spy Uganda
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is set to address the nation on Tuesday about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the measures being undertaken by government to curtail the spread of the pandemic.
However, our ever alert Spy within State House corridors over the weekend peeped into Mzee’s notes, which indicate the strategy he is likely to effect after the official 21-day lockdown and curfew.
Our Spy reveals that Mzee’s grand Post-Lockdown plan, which is expected to normalize the situation in Uganda again entails the following;
Some ideas on softening the lock-down, starting May 04, 2020
Phase 1
General rules – mandatory for any person moving around in public places (market, shopping mall, shops, ) in (semi)-urban areas and cities:
• Social distancing of minimum 1.5m
• Wearing of mask
• Washing of hands (or hand-sanitizers) at all entry/exit points of the public places
• Curfew remains in place from 10pm till 6am
Specific measures:
1. Public and private transport
• Taxis: allowed to resume, but only with reduced passengers – one seat free in-between, allowed passengers in taxi go down from 14 to 9 maximum, and passengers have to wear masks; conductor to be equipped with hand-sanitizer for cleaning hands of passengers when entering and exiting the taxi
• Boda boda: allowed to carry ONE passenger only, with mask; and driver has to have his helmet on (for safety and also to reduce transmission at the same time)
• Buses: to move at half capacity, only 1 seat out of 2 can be occupied; passengers to wear masks, mandatory hand-sanitizer when entering and exiting the bus
• Private cars: same arrangement as before the lock-down: only 3 people allowed; driver + 2 passengers maximum
2. Office work
• Split the office workers in two complementary groups: team A and team B; alternate each team comes to the office one week, and following week that team works from home and the other team works from the office; only half of the seats are taken in the office; work can resume to almost normal capacity
• Thermometers and hand-sanitizers at all entrance points to the offices; leave all doors open as much as possible to avoid touching the handles
• Extensive cleaning of the offices once a week
• Staff not allowed to eat from cafeteria to avoid unnecessary exposure and mixing beyond the usual office colleges, only allowed to eat from office desk
3. Factory work
• To be defined for each sector, keeping into account the general rules of social distancing, masks and regular hand washing/sanitizers
4. Public Markets
Continue as is – with restricted number of people allowed inside at the same
Time and mandatory hand-sanitizers and thermometers at the access and exit points; further deployment of hand-washing water point stations
5. Shopping Malls
• Continue as is – with restricted number of people allowed inside at the same time and mandatory hand-sanitizers and thermometers at the access and exit points
6. Grocery and other small (work)-shops
• Not more than 3 people inside the shop at the same time, wearing of mask mandatory
7. Restaurants
• Allowed to open, but only at half seating capacity; half of tables and seats to be removed; mandatory hand-sanitizers and thermometers at the entrance
• Waiters to wear gloves and face masks all the time
8. Bars and night clubs
• Remain closed for the time-being
9. Primary schools
• Boarding schools to resume, but no external visitors allowed in/out; all teachers to remain on site, minimize contacts with people outside of the school boundaries
• Non-boarding schools remain closed for the time-being
10. Secondary schools
• Boarding schools to resume, but no external visitors allowed in/out; all teachers to remain on site, minimize contacts with people outside of the school boundaries
• Non-boarding schools remain closed for the time-being
11. Universities
• Remain closed for the time-being
12. Sports Events
• Not allowed for the time-being
13. Building sites
• Existing measures continue as is – workers to remain as much as possible on site and minimize contacts with external people
14. Street resellers
• Mandatory wearing of face masks
15. Funerals, weddings, introductions
• Lock down measures continue as is
16. Religious church services
• Lock down measures continue as is
It should be noted that this is just a projection of what is likely to happen after the 21 COVID-19 lockdown and that the President hasn’t announced these regulations yet.
