Samples of 86 passengers who were quarantined at Kirigime guest house in Kabale municipality over coronavirus have turned out negative before being freed.
The passengers were intercepted at Katuna border on 22nd March 2020 while traveling in two Jaguar buses from Rwanda to Uganda and were later isolated at Kirigime guest house where they were monitored by coronavirus surveillance teams.
The passengers completed their 14 days last weekend and on Saturday health authorities collected samples with the method of Nasopharyngeal and Oropharyngeal Swabs and were sent to Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) Entebbe for analysis.
The Acting Kabale District Health Officer Alfred Besigensi said that when they received the results and tested negative, they chose to free them.
Addressing the press at Kirigime guest house on Wednesday afternoon, Besigensi said that those discharged didn’t show any signs of the virus.
He asked them to lead by example in the fight against virus when they return to their homes.
The Kabale Resident District Commissioner, Nandinda Darius said that the passengers will travel back to their homes on Thursday April 9, 2020.
Nandinda said that he is going to contact the owners of the two Jaguar buses that they were traveling to see how they can take them to their destinations.
Nandinda said that, if they fail to trace the buses, the passengers will need to pay for private transport.
Nandinda said that when they reach in Kampala, those going to their homes and outside the country will be cleared by the office of the prime minister.
He called for cooperation from residents in this trying moment as the country fights against the COVID 19 pandemic.
Some of the passengers told our reporter that they were treated well while at Kirigime guest house.
Elias Kyebambe, a resident of Kampala who was coming from Kigali where he had a concert said that he was scared after they were put under quarantine. Kyebambe commended the government for paying the hotel bills saying that for them they could not manage.
He however said that he is worried how he will go back to Kampala since the little he had, he used it to buy some necessities while at the hotel.
Ephraim Kasule, another passenger who was a plumber in Kigali expressed happiness because he is going to reunite with his family.
Some of the freed people are from Rwanda,Eritrea and Burundi. A big number of them are Ugandans.
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