Uganda: an assessment of Uganda’s legal response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) In this article, ENSafrica lawyers, Phillip Karugaba, Rehema Nakirya Ssemyalo and Tracy Kakongi, commend Uganda’s efforts to combat COVID-19 but also point out some gaps and grey areas in the various legal instruments issued by the Minister of Health that need urgent fixing so as to ensure consistent, coordinated and lawful enforcement.

By Phillip Karugaba, Rehema Nakirya Ssemyalo and Tracy Kakongi Ten years ago, Uganda’s National Disaster Preparedness and Management Policy predicted that “an influenza pandemic may occur when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity. With the increase in global transport, as well as urbanization and overcrowded conditions in some areas, epidemics due to a new influenza virus are likely to take hold around the world, and become a pandemic faster than before”. COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus, is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was declared…