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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Boda boda riders in Mbarara town want coronavirus preventive guidelines translated in local languages if they are to be effective.
Government through the Health Ministry has released a couple of preventive guideline in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 infection.
The guidelines have since been circulating through social media platforms mostly Whatsapp and other media.
Apparently, the guidelines are in English language which has drawn concern from the Boda boda leadership in Mbarara town.
Ouokunda Sergious Salongo, the Chairperson Boda Boda Mbarara Municipality says government usually forgets the illiterate people whenever it issues key messages.
Ouokunda asks his fellow riders to buy disinfectants and carry them around for use. He also asks them to stop carrying more than one person on their bikes to avoid close contact.
Didas Kamugisha, a Boda Boda rider in Biharwe says that apart from circulating the coronavirus preventive guidelines government should come up and start conduct physical sensitisation among riders on how the virus spreads and how to avoid it.
Stephen Tumwine, a Boda boda rider in Nyakayojo says government should take the responsibility of providing them with disinfectants that they can share with their passengers.
Ronald Owinama, a security guard in Mbarara says it was a friend who told him that the coronavirus guidelines had been sent on his phone but he couldn’t understand them.
“Yes I can speak English but I cannot read it very well. It was even my friend who explained to me, so if government can put them in Rufumbira, which I can read and understand very well it, would be very nice for me,” he said.
Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Health Ministry Spokesperson told URN that the ministry is currently translating the coronavirus preventive guidelines into vernacular, adding that they be availed to the public very soon.
The latest message released by the World Health Organisation on COVID-19 asks countries not only to prevent the spread of coronavirus through a comprehensive approach alone, not testing alone, not contact tracing alone, not quarantine alone, not social distancing alone, but to do it all.
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