The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Entebbe Deputy Resident District Commissioner Njuki Mbabali says that incoming and outgoing passengers will be exempted from night curfew restrictions if their flights fall within the curfew hours.
Uganda maintains a nighttime curfew running from 9 pm to 5:30 a. m, as one of the measures taken by the government to control movement and person to person interactions.
But Njuki told Uganda Radio Network that as Entebbe International Airport reopens, some flights could require passengers to move during curfew time. For instance, Turkish Airlines, the first commercial flight t the airport today, arrived at 3 a.m. and departed with some passengers at 4:50 am.
Njuki says that such passengers, whose flights depart or land during curfew time, are exempted from the restrictions. He adds that security agencies have been briefed to allow passengers who will move to and from Entebbe Airport during the curfew. However, he adds, all passengers must present their passports and air tickets whenever they are stopped.
Additional port health measures put in place to combat the spread of coronavirus disease-COVID-19, require outgoing passengers to report at Entebbe Airport at least four hours to their departure time.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga says that the stop and search security teams along the Kampala-Entebbe Highway will work in partnership with Uganda Civil Aviation Authority-UCAA and Aviation Police to ensure that only affected passengers move during the curfew.
“The teams will also cross-check the flight schedules to ensure that people do not take advantage,” Enanga adds, “But we don’t expect someone who has a flight at 5 a.m. to arrive at the airport before 9 pm, so the security teams will ensure that such passengers do not meet any hurdles.”
Meanwhile, there is heavy deployment at the airport as commercial flights resume. There are eight police officers deployed at the main entrance to ensure that passengers who disembark from the vehicles have their body temperatures measured and sanitize their hands before they can proceed to the airport.
Police officers have also been deployed around the parking areas, arrivals and departure sections, and waiting areas inside and outside the passenger terminal. Some security operatives, in plain clothes and airport security officers, are enforcing the anti-COVID-19 measures inside the passenger terminal. For instance, each person must wear a face mask and also observe social distancing.
Social distancing marks have been placed on most public spaces, such as the waiting lounges, check-in areas among others.
********
URN
