The Ministry of Health has revealed that a team of eight people have been quarantined after suspicions that the body they’re going to bury was a suspected Coronovirus victim from Qatar.
“Our team intercepted 8 people who were taking the body for burial in Kayunga. The body arrived by cargo plane from out of Uganda .The 8 are quarantined. Be reminded that bodies of COVID infected will not be allowed in the country. Please take note,” tweeted Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health.
A-plus Funeral Management also issued a statement confirming that four of its staff have been taken into Quarantine, but the company denied allegations that they facilitated the repatriation of a Coronovirus corpse into Uganda.
A-plus explained that the company was contracted directly by the deceased’s family to receive and handle the body at Entebbe International Airport that arrived as cargo from Doha-Qatar.
“All dead bodies are received by our handling team fully clad in protective gear irrespective of cause of death. The body was received from Civil Aviation Authority having been cleared by Ministry of Health and Uganda Red Cross as a non-COVID-19 case,” read the statement in part.
However on 20th April 2020, on their way to the burial grounds in Kayunga, the team was stopped by Police and later joined by Ministry of Health and Uganda Red Cross who took over the burial proceedings.
“A-plus cooperated with the Ministry of Health recommendations that our handling team of four personnel and four family members of the deceased be quarantined as a precautionary measure,” the statement added.
The Development comes at the time President Yoweri Museveni barred the importation of any Covid-19 corpse into the country, with calls to the families of the victims to have their loved ones cremated, so as to stop the importation of the Coronavirus into Uganda.
