Uganda: Joint police and military team removes coronavirus patient from classroom ceiling hideout

It took joint police and military team to remove a COVID-19 patient on Saturday, May 30 from the classroom ceiling where he’s been hiding after escaping.

Reports say security agencies in Uganda were over the weekend forced to launch a high voltage search for a COVID-19 patient who went missing shortly after receiving his results.

According to Tuko.co.ke, the patient, a truck driver, had just returned to Kayunga District in the neighbouring country after transporting pineapples to Kenya when he was diagnosed with the disease.

Kayunga resident district commissioner, Kikomeko Mwanamwoiza is reported as saying the contact tracing team had searched for the 30-year-old man but could not find him, so authorities thought it prudent to employ services of the army and police to fish him out.

"When the results revealed he was positive, the medical team in Kayunga was informed and given details of the case. However, efforts to get him to the hospital for treatment proved futile as we could not locate him. His relatives also said they didn't know his whereabouts," Mwanamwoiza was quoted by Uganda based Daily Monitor.

PRESS RELEASE: Seven frontline health workers test positive for COVID-19 in #Uganda. Total COVID-19 cases are 417.

The confirmed cases include:

- 3 nurses

- 2 doctors

- 2 senior level staff

All are admitted to Entebbe Grade B and Mulago National Specialised Hospitals pic.twitter.com/cl9mkEMYUr

— Ministry of Health- Uganda (@MinofHealthUG) May 31, 2020

The team received intelligence that the trucker had been spotted around a local primary school carrying food, so security officers and medics moved in swiftly, surrounded all perimeters of the school and combed through every nuke and cranny before eventually finding him in a ceiling of one of the classrooms.

The officers also discovered a mattress, plates and cups with which the patient was probably quarantining himself.

"The police and army surrounded the school and later mounted a search in all buildings and later found him hiding in the ceiling with a mattress, cups and plates," Kayunga District Police Commander John Lukooto told reporters.

The lost but found patient disclosed that he decided to go into hiding to avoid being hospitalised because other patients were being isolated for a very long time before being discharged. He was admitted to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital where he is receiving treatment while relatives who came in contact with him were quarantined at Kayunga Hospital, reports say.

Uganda’s COVID-19 cases had hit 417 as of Sunday, May 31 and among them were seven frontline health workers. With no COVID-19 related fatalities, Uganda had at least 72 people who had been discharged from the hospital.

COVID-19 UPDATE
??1,574 samples tested in the past 24
??78,536 samples tested so far
??74 new positive cases today
??Total confirmed cases stand at 1,962
??14 new recoveries today
??Cumulative discharged 474
??1 fatality today
??Total fatalities stand at 64#KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/MbWCH55q54

— Ministry of Health (@MOH_Kenya) May 31, 2020