At least 45 students from two schools in Masaka district have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).The affected students are mainly from the boarding section according to Dr. Nathan Onyach, the director of Masaka Regional Referral hospital who declined to name the schools for fear of causing alarm.

Onyach says the students are currently admitted at the COVID-19 treatment centre, and the surveillance team is still tracing all their contacts. He attributes the infections to failure to observe the standard operating procedure (SOPs) at the schools.Onyach however, says there is no need to close the affected schools since the patients are already admitted and receiving treatment at the hospital.

“We opened for the candidates and the schools were supposed to follow the SOPs. Now we have two schools, and you just need one student if they don’t follow SOPs. You just need one and it spreads. We have several students here, the number of patients I have is now 22 in admission. They are largely students. I don’t think it calls for closure of those schools, we pick those who are infected and continue to maintain social distance and SOPs, continuing to watch out for symptoms. Fortunately, for many young people, they have not had consequences, the majority of them have improved and these ones, the moment we finish 10 days and the symptoms are over, we shall just send them back to school,” said Onyach.

Onyach also reveals that 16 health workers are under self-isolation and are being monitored from their respective homes. He added that the COVID-19 infection has reached stage four where it may be difficult to trace the contacts and urges the school administrators and learners to be more responsible by adhering to the SOPs.Dr. Mark Jjuuko, the in-charge of the COVID-19 treatment centre, the majority of the students are improving and will be discharged soon as they recover.

John Bosco Mulindwa, the Masaka deputy district education officer (DEO), says that they have a task force team that keeps monitoring the schools in a bid to enforce the SOPs for the good of the learners. The administrators of the affected schools have said they have improved on the enforcement of SOPs to avoid more infections.