The government of Uganda has revealed that there will not be mandatory COVID-19 testing for delegates and visitors who will be flocking into the country for the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77 summits to be held in the country starting next week.
There were fears that all the visitors who will be jetting into the country will be subjected to a mandatory COVID-19 test which threatens the security of the data and samples taken from various delegates.
Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister of ICT and National Guidance while speaking to journalists at the office of the Prime Minister on the readiness of the country to host the events on Thursday highlighted that there will not be mandatory testing for COVID-19 for delegates.
He however made it clear that the testing facilities and medical services will be available and testing will be done at the will of the delegates.
In Uganda, there was a strict obligation to have people tested before attending major events at the peak of the pandemic, but currently, the infection rates have come down and it’s not mandatory to test when attending conferences in other countries.
In a brief message President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni posted on his social media handle on X in December last year that he had made consultations and had been advised against testing for the coronavirus because some of the NAM delegates do not want their DNA exposed.
Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has never attended any public event without testing the conveners. In Uganda, every Ugandan must test for COVID-19 before meeting the president.
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