KAMPALA, UGANDA: Government has announced the suspension of the compulsory Covid testing for all travellers flying into the country, an exercise that was set to kick off today, (Friday, September, 3), the DailyExpress reports.
The Ministry of Health had instructed that all incoming travellers regardless of their vaccination status or Covid test status set to undergo a mandatory coronavirus test upon arrival into the country, a move that has sparked outrage, especially among frequent travellers and tour operators.
However, The Ministry of Health Spokesperson, Mr. Emmanuel Ainebyoona told this website that after an inter-ministerial committee sitting on Thursday (yesterday) with several stakeholders in the tourism sector, it was resolved that the exercise be suspended for two weeks.
“The mandatory testing of all incoming travellers at Entebbe International Airport and other points of entry has been postponed for 2 weeks, following an inter-ministerial committee meeting chaired by the Prime Minister,” Ainebyoona said.
A number of tourism players and frequent travellers welcomed the news that they said was a sigh of relief from the earlier directive.
“Tourists were canceling trips to Uganda and heading elsewhere. No one wants to be punished to spend his or her money,” Amos Wekesa, a tourism expert said.
Uganda has by today registered 120,208 cumulative Covid cases since last year and 95,590 of these have fully recovered whereas 3031 people have died. A total of 1376986 doses of Covid vaccine have been admitted to the population.
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