NPA projects Covid-19 cases increase ahead of festive season

By Ben Musanje

7^th Dec 2021

The National Planning Authority – NPA has revealed that Uganda will register an increase in Covid-19 cases ahead of festive season.

This has been revealed in a report released earlier today from the projections run on 21 November 2021 to estimate the number of new cases between November 21st and December 4th.

According to the Executive director, national planning authority, Joseph Muvawala, Uganda has continued to record a low number of new cases; however, the trend has slightly changed in the past week.

Muvawala revealed that the model is projecting an increase in new cases for the week of 5th to 11th December with an average of 45 new cases per day and a weekly total of 312 new cases.

For the week of 12th to 18th December, the numbers are projected to increase to a daily average of 47 new cases and a weekly total of 330 cases.

Meanwhile, at the continental level, South Africa has experienced an increase in new COVID-19 cases, recording 62,000 new cases for the week ending 4th December.

A few other African countries recorded some increase in new COVID-19 cases including; Zimbabwe, Sudan, Mali and Swaziland.

According to the report, in most countries in Africa, internal factors are driving new cases with the exception of Lethoso, Benin, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan, where external factors are the major contributors to new cases.

The report comes just hours after Uganda’s ministry of health confirmed the new Omicron Variant that has so far spread to 40 countries across the world.