Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has Saturday managed to track a Tanzanian businessman who tested positive for Coronavirus at Mutukula border and is currently admitted to Mulago Referral Hospital in Kampala.
URA spokesperson Vincent Seruma has clarified that this Tanzanian patient is not a cargo driver as earlier communicated by Ministry of Health.
Reports from the Ministry suggested Friday night that the driver whose sample was taken on arrival at Mutukula, would later test positive having been allowed to proceed to deliver cargo to its destination.
The Ministry added that its surveillance team had started searching him.
But Mr Seruma said the patient is a logistics manager of DRC goldmine who was following and coordinating the mine’s 12 trucks headed to Congo.
“About the Tanzanian case, the suspect is not a truck driver. He was following the cargo. The car (a land cruiser) he was driving did not have an electronic seal,” said Seruma.
It should be noted that electronic cargo trackers are planted on cargo trucks not ordinary vehicles.
“He is already at Mulago as we speak. All the other 12 truck drivers in that particular DRC bound convoy are sub-quarantined at Karuma and the Ministry of Health is in control,” Seruma added.
The news of this Tanzanian case had caused panic among members of the public who think the movement of these truck drivers need to be coordinated since Uganda is allowing them to enter the country from different border points.
On Wednesday a Ugandan driver from Kenya was intercepted in Northern Uganda as he drove to South Sudan. His sample taken at Malaba border would later test positive.
Another Kenyan driver who tested positive was sent back to Kenya for treatment.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in his address on Wednesday said the Health Ministry should find a solution for these cargo transporters who are tested at the border and allowed to proceed to deliver the goods.
But it is turning out that the truck drivers are a big danger to our community.
Efforts to reach Dr Ruth Aceng the Minister of Health for more details remained unsuccessful.