COVID-19: Uganda receives mobile testing laboratories

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KAMPALA, Uganda - Uganda received a donation of two mobile laboratories for testing and diagnosing COVID-19 from the East African Community, health minister Jane Ruth Aceng said at a news conference Saturday.

The laboratories are equipped with modern equipment and can diagnose most pathogens in addition to providing safe, accurate and timely results for COVID-19.

They will be deployed to border points with a lot of human traffic to speed up testing for the cvirus. At least 2,500 trucks enter Uganda from neighboring countries each day.

Aceng said the labs will bring testing closer to communities and bring real time results.

Uganda currently has 55 COVID-19 cases, 20 who have recovered and 35 are receiving treatment in hospitals. No deaths has been reported.

The virus emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December and continues to ravage the world.

More than 2.3 million infections have been confirmed in at least 185 countries and territories, and the number of deaths has hit passed 158,600 worldwide, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. More than 590,000 patients have recovered.