Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Two loud explosions rocked Uganda’s capital, Kampala, early Tuesday, sparking chaos and confusion as people fled what is widely believed to be coordinated attacks.

One blast was near a police station and another on a street near the parliamentary building, said witnesses. The explosion near parliament appeared to hit a building housing an insurance company and the subsequent fire engulfed cars parked outside. Some lawmakers were seen evacuating the precincts of the parliamentary building nearby, according to national broadcaster UBC.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — An explosion at an eatery in Uganda’s capital was an apparent terrorist act, President Yoweri Museveni said on Sunday.

Museveni said three people entered the eatery in a suburb of Kampala on Saturday evening and left a plastic bag whose contents later exploded.

He provided no more details in a series of Twitter posts but vowed to “get the perpetrators.”

Police said in a statement that at least one person had died and seven others were injured in the blast.

The eatery is a normally busy place, frequented by commuters.

KAMPALA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Tuesday received a second batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government.

Margaret Muhanga, the minister of state for primary health care, received the vaccines at the National Medical Stores in Entebbe, 40 km south of the capital Kampala.

She hailed the donation as her country is scaling up its vaccination campaign to save lives and open up the economy.

KAMPALA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- As Uganda is marking its 59th independence anniversary from British colonial rule, the African country is embracing a brighter future for development with China's assistance.

GULU, Uganda (AP) — The light bulb hanging from the ceiling flickered on and off, infuriating the technician in this remote Ugandan town as he checked the refrigerators filled with vaccine doses to confirm they were still working.

If the power supply didn’t stabilize, he said, he would have to requisition fuel and start the generator.

“It keeps going on and off, like a disco light,” said the technician, Tony Elong. “This is our biggest problem. ... If I am not here and power is off for many hours, we are likely to lose the vaccines. It needs a timely response.”

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — At a taxi stand by a bustling market in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, traders simply cross a road or two, get a shot in the arm and rush back to their work.

Until this week, vaccination centers were based mostly in hospitals in this East African country that faced a brutal COVID-19 surge earlier this year.

Now, more than a dozen tented sites have been set up in busy areas to make it easier to get inoculated in Kampala as health authorities team up with the Red Cross to administer more than 120,000 doses that will expire at the end of September.

KAMPALA, Aug 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Starting Sept 3, all travellers arriving in Uganda, including citizens, will be subjected to a mandatory PCR Covid test before they are cleared to enter the country.

The Ministry of Health has revised travel guidelines, tightening Covid rules in the face of fake Covid-19 certificates, mutations of the virus and threats of a looming third wave in the country.

Previously, travellers were required to show negative coronavirus test results done 72 hours prior to travel before departure or entering the country.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — At a COVID-19 vaccination site in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, tempers flared among those waiting for scarce AstraZeneca jabs, with some accusing others of trying to jump the queue.

Nurses intervened, telling them the accused had been waiting since the previous day and averting violence in what has become a tense atmosphere as Ugandans jostle for vaccinations.

KAMPALA, July 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday ordered an easing of a six-week Covid lockdown following a dramatic reduction in serious cases of the disease.

   Infections had soared during a second wave driven by the highly transmissable Delta variant but since the lockdown, the authorities say daily admissions of severe and critical patients dropped from a daily peak of 204 to 50 currently.

KAMPALA, July 29 (Reuters) - A move by Uganda's government to install digital tracking devices on vehicles to help fight rampant crime has been denounced by rights advocates and the opposition who say it will be used to monitor activists, government opponents and critics.

Authorities in the east African country last week signed an agreement with Russian firm Joint-Stock Global Systems to install digital trackers in all vehicles in Uganda.