Government to Set Covid19 Lab in Tororo

Government is set to open up a a laboratory for testing coronavirus cases at Tororo General Hospital.

According to Dr David Cyrus Okumu, the Tororo district health officer, the laboratory is meant to speed up the testing of truck drivers at the Uganda-Kenya border.

“The ministry officials have already inspected Tororo general hospital facility and found it conducive to conduct the laboratory sample tests. This is aimed at addressing the issue of point of entry and ensuring that the results are declared within 24 hours,” Dr. Okumu said.

He made the disclosure on Saturday during the district COVID 19 response task force meeting chaired by residence district commissioner Mr. Nixon Owole.

Currently, the samples are only tested at Uganda Virus Research Institute [UVRI] in Entebbe which takes over three days for the results to come out.

During the meeting, Mlaba town council LCIII chairperson Mr. Asa Kalami asked the security personnel to seal off the porous border crossings. He decried of alleged persistent extortion by the security personnel deployed at the borderline to allow people to sneak into the country.