Government lifts lockdown on Nebbi district

Government has lifted the lockdown on Nebbi district barely four days after it was done for other districts in the region such as Arua, Moyo and Terego.

In a letter dated July 10 and addressed to the chairperson Nebbi district COVID-19 task force, the minister for Health Ruth Jane Aceng, said the ministry had revoked the lockdown on the district after reviewing that there has been no secondary transmission of the disease in the past two weeks. 

" We have reviewed the records submitted to Ministry of health and confirmed that there hasn't been secondary transmission of the disease in the district in the past two weeks. Based on this the Ministry has revoked the lockdown on Nebbi" Acen's letter reads in part.

The minister, thanked the district task force for the vigilance and commitment in implementing COVID-19 prevention and mitigation measures. 

Failure to lift the lockdown in Nebbi while other districts in West Nile were unlocked had generated tension among residents in the two districts.

They wondered how the government would keep Nebbi and Zombo locked yet they have no active COVID-19 cases and travellers from other district cross via Nebbi to Kampala or vice-versa.

"We want to thank government for the wise decision, otherwise we were not far from going to the street to protest the manner in which this lockdown is being managed " said Felix Oroma, a taxi driver. 

Emmanuel Urombi, the Nebbi district LC5 chairperson said, he was happy the government has revoked the lockdown, arguing that the people were weathering a lot of pain during the lockdown

He however, asked the residents to observe and maintain the guidelines issued by Ministry of Health to avoid further spread of the disease.

Last month, President Museveni reopened public transport in 35 border districts which did not register COVID-19 cases.

He had said that districts that Arua, Nebbi Rakai, Kyotera, Amuru, Buikwe and others were still under investigations because they had potential clusters of COVID-19 infections.

Uganda's COVID-19 confirmed cases have now risen to 1043 as of yesterday.