Five staff members at Radio Pacis in Arua District in northern Uganda have tested positive for COVID-19 as number of the country’s confirmed cases continue to rise.
“On August 14, we invited the Ministry fo Health to test our staff at Arua Diocese Media Centre. We now have the results and five of our staff members have tested positive for the disease,” said Fr Charles Idraku, director Radio Pacis.
Authorities said they would not close the radio but asked management to follow all the health guidelines as provided by Ministry of Health.
This brings to seven the number of media employees who have tested for the virus in Uganda since March 21 when the first case was confirmed.
On Monday, government owned Vision Group said one staff had tested positive for the virus. Sources close to Ministry of Health later intimated to this website that another journalist attached to NTV Uganda owned by Nation Media Group had also tested positive for the virus.
Following the confirmed cases, the ministry of Health slammed journalists over what they described as “very high” levels of complacency when covering different activities.
“Dear journalists, please take caution and observe Ministry of Health preventative measures. The level of complacency among those covering the various activities/events is very high. It is unfortunate the two media houses have since registered COVID-19 cases,” the ministry senior public relations officer, Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona tweeted ion Monday.
Meanwhile, authorities have confirmed 43 new infections as cases on Tuesday rose to 1,603.
A total of 15 people have died and 1,165 recovered from the virus since March 21, 2020 when the first case was confirmed in the country, according to the director health services, Dr Henry Mwebesa.
“The Ministry of Health with concern has observed the rapidly increasing cases in Kampala. The number of cases has been rising since the lifting of the lockdown restrictions. This is because the community is not following the standard operating procedures that include; hand washing, proper use of face masks and social distancing whenever in public places like workplaces, arcades and public transport’,” Dr Mwebesa said before adding that most of the fatal cases report to the health facilities very late.
