COVID-19: Uganda puts refugee settlement under lockdown after aid workers test positive

HEALTH | COVID-19

Uganda has put Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in the western district of Kikuube under lockdown after aid workers tested positive for COVID-19, a spokesperson of the UN refugee
agency said on Thursday.

Rocco Nuri, acting spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office, told Xinhua that effective from Aug. 26, government restricted movements and activities in the settlement after 22 humanitarian staff members and 72 refugees tested positive for the virus.

The settlement has also registered one death.

"We will continue to work with the ministry of health, national and district authorities, partners, refugee representatives and village health teams to ensure that refugees be sensitized of the risks and measures to contain the spread of COVID-19," said Nuri.

According to UNHCR, the settlement hosts about 120,000 refugees, mainly those fleeing insecurity from the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

As of Aug. 26, Uganda had registered a total of 2,524 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,268 recoveries and 26 deaths, according to the health ministry figures.