The Online Media Publishers Association -Uganda (OMPA-U) has heaped praise on Uganda government’s efforts in with dealing with the spread of coronavirus.

OMPA is an umbrella body that brings together owners and journalists working in Uganda for 24 of Uganda’s leading online media houses.

Their message is contained in a statement issued on Saturday that among other praised the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni and the Health Ministry efforts led by the health minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng and her Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine.

BELOW IS THE FULL STATEMENT

According to Ministry of Health, today, Saturday, April 11, 2020, three people who have been completely healed of the Covid-19 disease in Uganda and will be discharged to return home.

We thank God for this first victory in the national response against the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s indeed a great milestone and a welcome Easter present for all Ugandans who have braved the inconveniences that come with fighting this enemy and stayed home in the past two weeks as the country observes guidelines enumerated by President Yoweri Museveni and the Ministry of Health which are highly important and necessary to stop the spread of the novel Coronavirus.

We also congratulate the country for temporarily flattening the infections curve as all 439 samples tested on Good Friday returned negative — for the second day running! Our cases remain at 53 for Easter, and with continued discipline required of everybody, we should hope for the best.

Although we are yet to hit the epidemiological flat curve, this milestone in Uganda happening at a time when the global case and death rates are still growing on average by 2.68% and 6%-10% respectively, is surely a success worth celebrating!

We, the Online Media Publishers Association of Uganda (OMPA) exceedingly commend all our healthcare workers, the leadership of our Ministry of Health under Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng and colleagues and the technical wing under Dr. Diana Atwiine and colleagues.

Special mention also goes to the staff of the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) who have done a commendable job in testing.

We also higly commend the political leadership of the country under President Yoweri Museveni and the national taskforce headed by Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda for being focused on the fight against the pandemic.

This concerted and commendable leadership and effort has given the country ability to identify, isolate and test suspected cases on an average of 11% daily. To date, 4,301 cases have been tested.

We also commend the leadership of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance under Hon. Judith Nabakooba and colleagues and the technical wing headed by Hon. Vincent Waiswa Bagiire for harnessing the media effort towards the national educative responses to the pandemic, which efforts have been key in ensuring that the public gets to grip with the threat that the spread of Coronavirus poses.

We therefore would also like to thank all our media colleagues who, daily dedicate time, resources and valuable media space to keep the masses educated.

And, to all the individuals and organisations that have contributed materially and financially to both controlling the disease and easing the pain of the knock-on effects of the disease, Uganda is eternally grateful!

We salute all the people of Uganda- for heeding to the government’s advice to #StayHome and #StaySafe.

We ask you to continue heeding the guidelines of government as informed by the Ministry of Health, until the country overpowers the threat caused by the Coronavirus.

We at OMPA, pledge to continue dedicating time and resources to educate the Ugandan masses — over 50% of whom rely on the internet for timely and updated news, by creating timely, accurate and truthful news and functional information.