Will it be different for COVID-19? Africa | HAILAY GESESEW | The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently noted that “researchers are working at break-neck speed” to understand SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19). They are also working to develop potential vaccines, medicines and other technologies that are affordable …

Rawlence Ndejjo, is a returnee from Belgium. He returned on March 18 and was quarantined at Arch Apartments and Hotel in Kampala. Arch apartments and Hotel is one of the quarantine centres that the government chose to contain people returning to Uganda from abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. He narrated …

Asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, symptomatic: what is the difference? Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Do asymptomatic people carrying the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the coronavirus disease COVID-19 transmit it? This question came to the forefront in Uganda recently after a video clip of Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the COVID-19 World Health …

What international money lenders fear most about 2021 Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Increased government spending and borrowing as President Yoweri Museveni seeks re-election could destabilise the economy in FY2020/21. That is the view of the latest report by the international credit rating agency, Fitch. It is backed by …

Are the organisers of the COVID-19-defined general elections informed by science, panic or opportunism? COMMENT | JOSEPH MUKASA NGUBWAGYE | The Electoral Commission (EC) of Uganda on June 16 launched a revised road map for the 2021 general elections. The most controversial pronouncement was that the process, including campaigns and …

Should we expect a difference in 2021 `scientific elections’ that have banned campaign rallies? COMMENT | GODFREY MWESIGYE | “There are campaign beatings, ballot beatings, and post-election beatings. … Then after the election cycle is over, the country shall revert to ordinary beatings.” Mary Serumaga— Pambazuka News, 29 Aug 2018. …

They are a powerful way to teach kids about coronavirus | MARINA JOUBERT | The global COVID-19 pandemic has turned children’s lives upside down. Stay-at-home orders mean that they cannot go to school, visit a playground or spend time with friends. Just like adults, they may be scared and frustrated. …

Why government should work with the musicians producing it – including Bobi Wine | DOMINIC D.B. MAKWA | Ugandan pop musicians have released a raft of songs and music videos to educate and alert the public about COVID-19. Notable among them have been Bobi Wine and Nubian Li’s `Corona Virus …

But new flare-up in western DRC and COVID-19 pose challenges | THE INDEPENDENT | The deadliest and longest Ebola outbreak in the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has finally ended, the Health Minister Longondo Eteni jubilantly announced on June 25. The outbreak, concentrated in Ituri and North …

Why their alliance is an inconvenience Kampala, Uganda | MUBATSI ASINJA HABATI | Did youthful music superstar and Kyadondo East MP Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine commit a political blunder by appearing beside opposition strongman Kizza Besigye recently? The leading opposition duo appeared on the same podium on June …