Kabale, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | The administration of Kabale Regional Referral Hospital has officially confirmed the admission of five new COVID-19 patients.
“Since the last week of December 2023 up to January 2024, we have registered 8 cases of COVID-19. Currently, five patients are still admitted at the hospital. Many people have flu and cough but very few are coming to hospital for tests,” said Dr. Anne Namutebi, a physician at Kabale Regional Referral Hospital, highlighting the continuous rise in the number of patients exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, urging the public to take precautions as the virus remains a threat.
Dr. Namutebi partly attributed the recent surge in COVID-19 cases to a significant portion of the population being either unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated, suggesting that this may be contributing to the new wave.
She encouraged residents in the Kigezi region to revisit and adhere to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), emphasizing the importance of getting booster doses to curb the resurgence.
Besigensi Alfred, the Kabale District Health Educator, reiterated the necessity for the public to complete their vaccination doses. He noted, “For the first dose of vaccination, the turn up of people was very positive standing at 80% but when Covid reduced, people turning up for the booster doze was very low.”
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As of November 2023, 72% of people worldwide had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with a total of 13.6 billion doses administered globally, preventing severe illness and hospitalizations for millions.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General declared last year that COVID-19 was no longer a global health emergency, the WHO emphasized that this did not mean the virus was no longer a global health threat. Instead, it marked a transition for countries to manage COVID-19 alongside other infectious diseases, moving away from emergency measures.
