By Jesse Johnson James
Test results from a 59-year-old Kenyan truck driver and an 18-year-old woman who died while in isolation at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor in Gulu district on Sunday have turned negative of the Coronavirus, the Ministry of Health announced Wednesday evening.
The 59 -Year –Old trucker was admitted on Saturday after being referred from Elelgu Border Post in Amuru district while the 18-year-old woman was referred from Abee Hospital in Oyam District after she was diagnosed with severe pneumonia. Both were isolated at Lacor after presenting Covid19 symptoms, in line with the Ministry of Health guidelines.
Samples from the duo had been dispatched to Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe on Sunday. Their results turned negative, said a tweet from the Director of Medical Services, Dr Henry Mwebase.
The results will calm nerves in Gulu and surrounding districts were some were getting jittery, fearing that the trucker and the 18- year old woman had died from the dreaded Coronavirus.
“Both patients who were admitted at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor and suspected to have died from COVID -19 tested negative,” said Dr Mwebase. “As of today, Uganda has not registered any COVID -19 related death” he added.
Gulu Regional Referral Hospital and St. Mary’s Hosptial Lacor are designated isolation centers for Covid-19 patients as designated by the Gulu District COVID -19 Taskforce.
Uganda has so far recorded 79 cases of COVID -19, most of them recent cases involving Kenyan and Tanzanian truck drivers.
