{"id":164378,"date":"2022-02-18T09:22:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T01:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=164378"},"modified":"2022-02-18T09:22:02","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T01:22:02","slug":"covid-19-uganda-drops-mandatory-tests-for-travellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=164378","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: Uganda drops mandatory tests for travellers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter\"><table><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/608\/60818286.jpg\" width=\"\" height=\"\" alt=\"Passengers queue for checking at Entebbe International Airport\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Passengers queue for checking at Entebbe International Airport<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"article-123\">KAMPALA, Feb 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Uganda has dropped the mandatory requirement for COVID-19 testing at its main entry point in Entebbe.<br><br>The announcement follows a Monday Cabinet decision that noted that few new cases were being recorded at the airport and that the threat of new coronavirus variants and community transmissions has been reduced.<br><br>&#8220;Mandatory Covid-19 testing of all incoming travellers at Entebbe International Airport upon arrival has been stopped with effect from 16 February 2022,&#8221; said Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director of health services at the Ministry of Health, in a statement.<br><br>Uganda has, however, maintained the requirement for travellers to be tested 72 hours before arrival or departure from the airport.<br><br>&#8220;Our health workers will continue to screen all travellers both at arrival and departure and verify their Covid-19 test certificates,&#8221; said Dr Mwebesa.<br><br>The government imposed the restrictions in September last year following the detection of more variants of Omicron imported from neighbouring countries in travellers who arrived via the airport.<br><br>Previously, arrivals were only required to show a valid negative PCR certificate obtained from an accredited lab in their countries of origin.<br><br>While talking to local media on Wednesday afternoon, Works Minister Gen Katumba Wamala confirmed the suspension of Covid testing, saying it would apply to all points of entry.<br><br>Travellers paid $30 for the tests even if they possessed negative PCR results from their departure points.<br><br>The measures had brought business to a standstill at Malaba and Busia along the Kenya border with Uganda as truck drivers protested the mandatory tests and costs. The strike led to a fuel shortage in the landlocked country, forcing the government to cut the cost to $25 and eventually suspend testing for truck drivers only. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Passengers queue for checking at Entebbe International Airport KAMPALA, Feb 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Uganda has dropped the mandatory requirement for COVID-19 testing at its main entry point in Entebbe. The announcement follows a Monday Cabinet decision that noted that few new cases were being recorded at the airport and that the threat of new coronavirus [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":164381,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164378"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=164378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/164381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=164378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=164378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=164378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}