Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 78, tests positive for Coronavirus

Museveni

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni

Photo credit: AFP

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announces he has contracted Covid-19 after one of the tests he took Wednesday morning turned out positive.

Speaking during the State of The Nation address on June 7, 2023 at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds,  President Museveni said he had been feeling unwell and this forced him to be separated from his wife, First Lady Janet Museveni.

“This morning, I was feeling as if I had a cold. I took a rapid Coronavirus test which indicated negative. I did two more tests with deeper analysis. One of them turned out positive, the other was negative. So, I am a suspect of corona as I speak. That’s why I came in a separate car with Mama Janet Museveni,” said President Museveni according to the Monitor.


In Uganda, between January 3, 2020 and May 31, 2023, 170,775 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed and 3,632 deaths reported.

As of March 25, 2023, 26,406,936 Covid vaccines were administered to Ugandans.

President Museveni contracting the virus came as a surprise to many considering how he has always been careful of how he interacts with everyone.

In several national and international meetings and events, the outspoken President is always spotted in a mask, often holds his State House meetings out in the garden and never greets his guests, including fellow presidents, with handshakes.

His breaking of WHO recommended guidelines of going into quarantine once diagnosed with the virus also caught people off guard while many others wished him a quick recovery.

WHO’s data as of May 31, 2023, stands at 767,364,883 confirmed cases, 6,938,353 deaths and 13,381,562,028 administered vaccines as of June 1, 2023.