22nd March, 2020
Uganda’s Ministry of Health said it has seized the passports of all the travellers on the same flight with the country’s first coronavirus case.
The ministry’s permanent secretary Diana Atwine, revealed this on Sunday as it called for calm.
The patient was a 36-year-old Ugandan man, who was identified at the Entebbe International Airport, 37 km southwest of the capital Kampala, and then kept in insolation, the ministry said in a statement.
The man tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving from Dubai on Saturday aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight with symptoms of high fever and poor appetite.
The passenger manifest has been retrieved and all contacts traced, the ministry said.
“The public is hereby requested to remain calm and vigilant and to report any suspected cases,” the statement said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday announced the closure of all borders to prevent the COVID-19 spread in the country.No passengers would be allowed into Uganda whether by air, water or land, Museveni said in a televised address.
No passenger planes would be allowed to land in Uganda or leave, with the exception of cargo planes and their crew members, he said, adding that emergency landing would also be allowed, especially for United Nations planes.
“Let’s all be tough, we’re going to handle #covid19Ug the NRA way and we shall defeat it”, Museveni said.