Iganga hotel closed over coronavirus

Authorities in Iganga district have closed off a hotel after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

Mwana Highway Hotel in Iganga municipality was cordoned off by the Police and 25 people at the hotel, mostly staff, taken into quarantine at Busoga University's main campus.

The Resident District Commissioner Iganga, Eva Kwesiga, said 25 people including employees at the hotel, were tested and put under quarantine as they await the test results.

Kwesiga said blood samples taken from the contacts were taken to Uganda Virus Research Institute to establish whether they contracted the virus during contact with the positive case. She urged hotel owners to put in place standard operating procedures (SOPS) issued by the health ministry to contain the COVID-19 virus.

Mwana Highway Hotel is one of the biggest hotels in Iganga town that attracts the affluent class.

OBSERVE SOPS

The assistant district health officer, Karim Muluya, urged members of the public to exercise social distancing, wear face masks and wash their hands to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Muluya said the flouting of SOPs by members of the public is likely to push the country into another partial lockdown if cases keep rising.

The district has so far registered three cases of COVID-19.