As the covid situation in Uganda improves, with cases of covid 19 dwindling every day, the government of Uganda is relaxing on the restrictions. The good news for travelers going to Uganda is that the government has declared there is no more testing on arrival at the airport effective from February 2022. Perhaps one of the best news as many travelers found the test on arrival at the airport the worst of restrictions. It added to the cost of travel as you had to $30 for it, and it was such a great inconvenience that caused a lot of anxiety waiting for the results while thinking of the worst outcome of a positive result. Imagining traveling all the way to Uganda to enjoy a safari vacation in the Pearl of Africa (home of popular gorilla trekking and chimpanzee trekking) only to test positive for covid and sent into isolation.
The government came to this decision to stop covid tests on arrival as fewer and fewer positive cases of covid were registered among the arriving travelers. An indication of the declining covid 19 cases worldwide. Perhaps an encouraging signal that the worldwide pandemic could soon come to an end.
What restrictions are still in place for traveling to and from Uganda?
Travelers going to Uganda are required to present a negative result from a PCR test taken not later than 72 hours to the time of arrival in Uganda.
Travelers leaving or flying out of Uganda are required to present a negative result from a PCR test taken with 72 hours from the time of flying out of Uganda. Travelers often are concerned as to whether they would be able to find a place to test in Uganda at the end of their gorilla trip and get results in time? Well, Uganda has developed a lot of capacity to test for covid 19 over the last two years of the pandemic. So many labs have been established in the capital Kampala and even out of Kampala. You can take a covid 19 PCR test and have your results in as few as 4 hours. Generally it would take 6 – 8 hours to have your results.
What is the latest covid situation in Uganda?
The covid situation in Uganda has improved a lot as of February 2022. The country experienced the Omicron surge in December last year of 2021, peaking quickly by early January and by the end of January almost every person in the capital Kampala and much of the country had had a taste of it. By end of February 2022 nearly much of the population has been “vaccinated” by the extremely contagious Omicron variant. There is little covid in the population as more recover from Omicron.
Most of the adult population above 50 years that is most vulnerable in Uganda has received the covid jabs. Uganda has a younger demographic with more than 70% of the country below 25 years. This younger demographic is one of the main factors the covid pandemic did not have a devastating effect in Uganda like it has been in countries with aged populations such as Europe.
There has been a lot of vaccine hesitancy among the young population, but the later covid variants that spread quickly through the population have caused natural immunity among the population.
Nearly all essential works such as health workers, teachers, security, tour drivers and hospitality workers have been vaccinated!
I can tell without fear that chances of picking a covid infection from Uganda are very minimal!