Uganda launches door-to-door campaign amid spike in Covid cases

Kampala: Uganda has adopted the Village Health Team (VHT) strategy as a new battlefront to quell the resurgence of Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the health ministry said.

Under the VHT strategy, community members who have basic knowledge about healthcare will go door-to-door to check on the health condition of local households.

Once suspicious Covid-19 cases are detected, they will be sent to the nearest health centre for further examination.

The VHT team will also educate household members to follow social distancing rules and health tips to avoid contracting the virus, Xinhua reported.

Uganda on Wednesday registered 484 fresh Covid-19 cases, pushing the national caseload to 18,890. Meanwhile, five new related deaths were reported across the country, taking the nationwide fatalities to 191, according to a data of the health ministry.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Uganda's epidemic situation is likely to worsen, noting that for the last four weeks the east African country has recorded more than 6,000 Covid-19 cases and 60 deaths from the disease.

"We are expected to see more deaths," Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, WHO country representative, told a health conference here on Wednesday.