Schools by affected COVID-19 barred from closing

Even as cases of COVID-19 spike in institutions of learning, the Ministry of Health has urged school administrators not to panic or send students back home.

The state minister for primary health care, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, said sending away students from COVID-19-affected institutions will harness community transmissions and complicate management of cases.

"There has been a significant spike in the number of cases registered in schools, but we have engaged the education ministry and have come to a conclusion that schools should not close, unless they have consulted with the relevant authorities, including the director general of the health ministry.

"Schools should enforce stay-home policy for learners and teachers that feel unwell, they should strengthen surveillance with improved recording of attendances for learners, teachers and institute symptom monitoring to identify cases that will develop symptoms, as early as possible," Kaducu said on Tuesday.

Addressing journalists, the minister said they are also encouraging engagement of schools on health education risk perception and behavioural change to promote a preventive atmosphere in schools and for private schools to improve on their sanitation and surveillance and report cases as urgently as possible.

According to the health ministry, they have been monitoring clusters of schools and have so far confirmed 120 COVID-19 cases in schools.

The cases are in Bishop Cipriano Kihangire Secondary School, Luzira (32), Masaka College of Health Sciences (28), Vine Paramedical School, Masaka (30) and Kabale Medical School (30).

Kaducu said: "Because of the infection transmissions in institutions of learning, we have strengthened surveillance of schools to ensure that they observe the standard operating procedures (SOPs), but we do not recommend closure of any school because it will further community spread of the virus, complicate tracing and management and affect students' learning." She made the remarks while giving a status update on the COVID-19 pandemic in the country at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala.

Last month, the Government allowed primary and secondary schools, as well as tertiary institutions of learning to re-open for candidate classes and finalists to study the last term of the academic year and write their final examinations. Government, according to President Yoweri Museveni, considered re-opening for the finalists because they are a smaller number, compared to the total enrolment, which would make observing of SOPs, including social distancing, possible.

Official figures put the number of students in candidate classes at 1.2 million out of the 15 million total enrolment across the country. The fate of the rest of the students will be decided by January next year.

Prior to the re-opening for finalists, the education issues guidelines for the education institutions and implementation of SOPs during COVID-19 that, among others, emphasised wearing of face masks, hand-washing and sanitising, social distancing and reporting of suspected cases for testing and tracing contacts.

The ministry, however, warned that the re-opening of the education institutions for finalists does not imply that the danger posed by the pandemic had passed.

Fearing the danger that re-opening of schools would pose to the health of students and their teachers, Gideon Tugume dragged government to court in an attempt to halt the process, but his case was dismissed by the High Court.

Kampala most affected

With the exception of nine districts, Kaducu said there is a wide spread increase of COVID-19 cases in Uganda with 70 districts reporting new cases on a weekly basis.

She said although only nine districts have not reported cases of COVID-19, "this doesn't mean that they are safe.

It is possible that the cases there have either not yet been reported or tested, but also the fact that they still have asymptomatic cases, but with the level of community transmissions, no body is safe. We are not able to disclose the safe districts due to scientific reasons for management of the pandemic."

As of Tuesday, Uganda had registered a total of 18,165 confirmed cases of COVID-19 of which 8,675 have recovered, and 181 people have succumbed to the virus.

Kaducu said: "More people attributed to COVID-19 will die as the outbreak progressively shifts from the younger population between 30-39 years to the older population from 50 to 59 and above 60 years."

She said with Uganda now faced with a stage four phase of the virus with more severe impacts and possibility of causing futilities, if the communities do not adhere to the SOPs, the increase in cases will strain the healthcare system, causing even more deaths.

"So far, we have 1,238 cases of COVID-19 among health workers.

Out of these numbers confirmed, unfortunately, we have lost 10 healthcare workers in different categories and investigations are taking place, but prior reports indicate cases are emerging from communities, where these health workers reside.

We, therefore, continue to prioritise safety of health workers, availability of adequate supplies, heightened interventions to mitigate further mobility and mortality," Kaducu said.

She revealed that although efforts are being made to ensure that Uganda finds a vaccine for coronavirus, the Government is also monitoring developments elsewhere in the world, to see which country they can liaise with to secure a safe and affordable vaccine once trials are done.

"A national committee was set up to specifically deal with Uganda accessing a coronavirus vaccine at the earliest chance possible. Progress has been made on our part, but we are also monitoring other countries, especially those whose development has reached the stage three trials. However, this is to warn the general public that so far there is no vaccine or cure for coronavirus; therefore, everyone should remain vigilant," Kaducu said.

Affected schools

The cases are in

• Bishop Cipriano Kihangire Secondary School, Luzira (32)

• Masaka College of Health Sciences (28)

• Vine Paramedical School, Masaka (30)

• Kabale Medical School (30)