By Our Reporter,
KAMPALA
Ugandan First Lady and the minister for education and sports, Janet Kataha Museveni has been put under self quarantine after she tested positive for COVID-19 on Christmas Day, country’s president, H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni reported.
In a post shared on his official X platform (formerly Twitter), president Museveni said the first lady was experiencing a peculiar sensation in her throat characterized by Sandy feelings, weak with headache and grappling with an irritating throat, calling for immediate sample testing.
“On Christmas day, after a family lunch, Maama Janet started feeling kukarakaatwa (sandy feeling) in the throat. We did a Rapid Corona test, which was negative. However, we sent another sample to Mbarara for PCR test and it came back Positive,” Museveni tweeted.
According to the president, the initial sample test were negative however, a PCR test results of the second sample from Mbarara referral confirmed that Kataha had contracted the virus.
The report follows news of the declaration of the new JN.1 COVID-19 strain variant by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Last week onTuesday (December 19), WHO announced it would step up its classification of the new COVID-19 variant JN.1 to a standalone “variant of interest,” after tracking the strain’s rapid ascent around the world. Health officials said that the new variant has so far not been found to lead to different or more severe symptoms compared to previous variants. However, WHO said JN. 1 is
“rapidly increasing spread” in multiple parts of the world was enough to warrant ungrouping the strain from its slower-moving ancestor BA.2.86
“JN.1 continues to be reported in multiple countries, and its prevalence has been rapidly increasing globally and now represents the vast majority of BA.2.86 descendent lineages reported,” the WHO wrote.
The various had by December 28, spread to countries like USA, China, and the UK.
