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Ministry staff skip COVID test
The COVID mouth swab is an uncomfortable experience
A number of staff members of the Ministry of Lands today fled their duty stations after realizing that a team from the ministry of health was headed there to test them for the Coronavirus.
Our source who interacted with some of the staff says they expressed fear that they could be locked up in the mandatory 14 day quarantine, and chose to flee.
This comes after 21 staff members of the Ministry of Finance, as well as other government departments were found positive with COVID 19 following random tests.
Henry Oboo, the spokesperson of the Lands Ministry said the team from the Ministry of Health, indeed visited and tested staff from the Physical Planning Directorate, whose staff members recently tested positive for COVID after returning from upcountry field visits.
He said the Ministry of Health staff were not targeting the staff of the entire Ministry but rather the physical planning department.
He confirmed however that the PS of the Ministry of Lands has instructed all staff to go for a test at KCCA offices on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
He insisted that today, colleagues in the Ministry had responded positively to the directive, except that the testing kits ran out.
“Our staff responded positively, only that the kits were not enough. So those who were not tested, will have to go back tomorrow,” said Oboo.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry of finance Keith Muhakanizi noted in a press statement on Monday that his ministry was ready to provide treatment, and that all family members of staff who were found to be positive, would have to undergo the mandatory quarantine.
Besides the uncomfortable mouth and nose swab test, many people have expressed fear at the prospect of abandoning their homes as they spend time in the quarantine.
Different government agencies have put their staff under the mandatory test as a control and preventive measure against the spread of the deadly disease.
The Ministries of Health, Internal Affairs, Finance, UNRA, Uganda Police and The New Vision, has reported cases.
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