Uganda suspends all public transport to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after 14 confirmed cases

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday evening announced the suspension of all public transport for 14 days with immediate effect in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Museveni made the announcement in a televised live address following a cabinet meeting after new cases of coronavirus were confirmed earlier in the day.

“The government has decided to suspend, for 14 days, all public transport. This means all taxis, all minibuses, all buses, all passenger trains, all tuk tuks and all the boda bodas are suspended. Why? Because we want to minimize movement,” Museveni said.

Only private vehicles will be allowed on road but they will also be restricted to carrying three people.

The Ugandan president also ordered that all markets trading in non-food items like electronics and clothing should be closed.

“The selling of clothes, necklaces, mobile phones, sandals, shoes, all those nonfood items…hold on, you will come back. To create space, stay at home, let only the food people stay in the market. We think this will reduce numbers and then they can be able to maintain what they call the social distance.”

Museveni also added that only essential staff in government offices should report to work in order to avoild an economic shutdown in the country.

“Each ministry should work out a plan of the essential staff that need to remain on duty. Take for example, the Revenue Authority must remain on duty because our goods are still coming from outside Uganda and coming into Uganda; someone needs to clear those goods, needs to collect those taxes so as to remain on duty.”

Uganda on Wednesday confirmed five new cases of the coronavirus bringing the total number of cases in the country to 14.