President Museveni has said that the economy will reopen in January. The economy has been closed for two years following the outbreak of covid-19. Some of the sectors that have remained closed to date include educational institutions, bars, theaters and cinemas.
Addressing the Nation on Friday, President Museveni said all schools should reopen starting from January 10. Other than primary and secondary schools, the president also ordered that preprimary schools should reopen effectively gutting the ministry of health moratorium it had put on pre-primary schools until such a time when coronavirus is no longer a threat.
Uganda has been the only country in the world whose schools had remained closed two years since the outbreak of the coronavirus, in 2019. Other than schools, the President also ordered that; cinema halls, sports events, performing arts, bars and discos are reopened in two weeks after the reopening of schools. The President also ordered that public transport and private cars be allowed to carry their maximum capacity of passengers provided that they follow the SOP including full vaccination.
The President also lifted the 7 pm-5:30 am curfew for everybody starting January 24 except for Boda Boda riders. Their curfew hours however have been shifted from between 6 pm-5:30 am to between 7 pm-5 am.
“Boda Bodas forgive us; your issues are still very many, you will continue observing the curfew hours,” Museveni said without elaborating what those issues are. However, it should be recalled that President Museveni and security people have blamed Boda Boda riders for participating or aiding crimes especially the high profile assassination of prominent people in the country.
However, the President said that some of the measures may be reversed if there is a high Covid-19 rate of the hospitalization of critically ill patients.
Uganda currently has 187 intensive care unit beds, 475 high dependency beds and 3100 ordinary beds in government hospitals.