Ministry of Health together with security agencies are hunting for 17834 Ugandans who returned from abroad between March 7 and March 22.
It has been evident that a majority of the COVID-19 patients are returnees from Dubai, USA, UK and other countries.
The Minister of Health Dr Jane Aceng earlier told the President that they had secured flight manifests to establish the details of every individual who entered the country between that period.
According to Aceng’s statement she presented to Parliament on Tuesday, 18860 people came into the country but only 1026 have been tracked down for testing in mandatory or institutional quarantine.
This means that the 17834 missing could have already mixed with locals in their communities.
“We are tracing them with the help of security. We want to have all of them tested,” Dr Aceng said while delivering a statement on the 14-day lockdown to parliament Tuesday.
Uganda confirmed her first case of the new Coronavirus disease on March 22, 2020. The number has since grown to 52, most being travelers who returned to the country before the closure of borders.
The Minister said 30 are undergoing treatment at Entebbe Grade B hospital, 20 at Mulago National Referral Hospital, one at Adjumani Hospital and another at Hoima hospital.
