150 arrested in Mbarara for flouting COVID-19 Guidelines

150 people were arrested by police with the assistance of the UPDF in Mbarara city, for flouting presidential directives and standard operating procedures set by Ministry of Health to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The suspects were all arrested on Monday in an operation that lasted for seven hours to crack down on the many people who walked to town without specific responsibilities to fulfill.

Joint security personnel were interviewing people and asking what they were going to do in town and whoever failed to explain and had no documentation, was arrested.

The resident city commissioner James Mwesigye who doubles as the chairperson of Covid-19 Taskforce, says that people had developed a tendency of walking to town and loitering and sitting on their shops’ verandahs’ even when they are locked.

He noted that the number of people along the streets had increased in the past week and most of them were not following the SOPs.

Mwesigye added that the seriousness of the operations has seen a reduction of Covid-19 infections, noting that at the start, over 90 cases were being registered a day but of late they are registering between 5 and 10 cases.

Dr Celestine Barigye says they have registered a reduction of deaths at the regional hospital from 9 to 3 per week.