Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday eased anti-coronavirus restrictions, including allowing resumption of education for universities and other post-secondary institutions, citing a decline in infections in the country.
The east African country started experiencing a second wave of the pandemic around May, shortly after authorities announced detection of the highly transmissible Delta variant.
In response Museveni put the country of 45 million under a sweeping lockdown that included shuttering of nearly all businesses, closure of schools and halting of traffic.In a televised speech late on Wednesday, Museveni said the outbreak had continued to ebb since.continued to decline. ..the daily average number of confirmed cases over the last one month has declined and stabilised," he said.
He said all universities and other post secondary education institutions should now re-open on Nov. 1 and also allowed churches and a range of other sport and social activities such as weddings and funerals to resume. Bar closures and a range of other restrictions such as a night curfew would be maintained though, to help prevent a third wave of the pandemic, he said.A total of 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to have been brought into the country by the end of the year, most of them donations, Museveni said.
He said the government aimed to vaccinate around 4.8 million people by the end of the year, which he said would permit the lifting of nearly all other remaining restrictions, including allowing primary and secondary schools to also re-open.More from ReutersSubscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.
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