Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Local defense Unit (LDU) personnel in Kitgum district are unhappy about delayed payment of their salaries, security officials in the district have revealed. More than 100 LDUs currently stationed at Kitgum Central police station are providing security to aid the smooth enforcement of directives by …
Read More »COVID-19: Africa advised to prepare for a worst-case scenario
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A new campaign has been launched to increase financing for Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to raise its capacity for securing essential diagnostics and medical supplies needed for COVID-19 response in Africa. The One by One; Target COVID-19 campaign, spearheaded by Africa-CDC, the …
Read More »Two contacts of Covid-19 positive truck driver quarantined in Kisoro
Kisoro, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two people have been quarantined at Kisoro Primary Teachers College in Kisoro district after it emerged that they got into contact with a COVID-19 positive truck driver at Uganda-Rwanda border of Chanika last week. Nick Muneza, the Assistant District Health Officer Kisoro, says that the …
Read More »German lockdown ‘snitches’ spark hot debate
Berlin, Germany | AFP | On a sunny Sunday in April, 20 people were enjoying a barbecue in the city of Schwerin in northern Germany. The police promptly intervened, slapping them with a fine for breaking new social distancing rules to limit the spread of COVID-19. They were alerted to the …
Read More »First COVID-19 vaccine expected in June 2021
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The closest date that a COVID-19 vaccine can be ready is June 2021 according to scientists and researchers. Over 100 vaccines are being developed globally in laboratories in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe and even China. 76 of these are being followed by …
Read More »Early trial results for Remdesivir show promise in COVID-19 treatment
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A latest clinical trial in the United States shows that Remdesivir drug is effective in the treatment of the novel coronavirus. The experimental drug by the Gilead Sciences Inc has been under clinical trial treating COVID-19 patients for the last two weeks in the United …
Read More »Non food shops quietly re-open despite ban
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Several of non food stuff shops have quietly reopened in the city suburbs in violation of the presidential directives aimed at controlling the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. While announcing the Covid-19 preventive guidelines in one of his televised address last month, President Yoweri …
Read More »Experts call for embracing an African model of lifting lockdown
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Experts at the Makerere University School of Public Health say there’s no longer need for the whole country to stay under total lockdown as a way of preventing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Uganda has not had any cases of community transmitted infection …
Read More »Half world’s workers risk livelihoods being ‘destroyed’: ILO
Genève, Switzerland | AFP | Nearly half of the entire global workforce is in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic, the International Labour Organization warned Wednesday. The ILO said the risk fell on those workers in the informal economy, and three-quarters of them, some 1.6 billion …
Read More »US GDP contracts 4.8% as virus hit, ends decade of growth
Washington, United States | AFP | The decade of US economic expansion ended dramatically in the first quarter when GDP shrank 4.8 percent as the coronavirus hit, according to government data released Wednesday. It was the biggest decline in GDP in 12 years as the pandemic forced businesses to …
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