Government to adopt relay truck driving as a measure to curb spread of COVID-19

Minister of Internal Affairs Jeje Odongo has revealed that government is going to adopt relay truck driving as a measure against the spread of the Coronavirus.

Five truck drivers from Kenya and Tanzania have as of Thursday had tested positive for COVID-19 in Uganda and there has been a growing public concern on whether the truck driver’s undermine all the efforts against the spread of the Coronavirus in the country.

While addressing the press at the Uganda Media Centre on Thursday, Minister Odongo said that the new directive will mean that drivers will park their trucks at the borders where they will be disinfected and handed over to their Ugandan colleagues who will then drive them to the desired destinations.

“If a vehicle is coming from Mombasa, for example, the driver will drive up to the border at Malaba or Busia and will stop there. We sanitize the vehicle and it is handed over to his counterpart in Uganda. His counterpart will drive to the final destination in Uganda or to the border exit of the country,” Odongo said.

Odongo said the costs that will arise from relay driving will be faced by the company themselves and not government.

“So it is not going to be a cost to the government. The truck companies will be the ones to deploy drivers on the other side and this side of the border. It is entirely their responsibility.”

On Thursday, Uganda’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 reached to sixty three when two Tanzanian truck drivers tested positive out of the 1,296 samples that were carried out at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).

Dr. Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health expressed concerns in a tweet saying the truck drivers could become the next challenge to the country if not checked.

Odongo said that all the Presidential directives being implemented are not meant to punish Ugandans but rather to protect them from being infected and asked the public to full abide by them.

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