Is Uganda on the verge of finding cure for coronavirus?

There’s a raging controversy in Uganda after the country’s speaker of parliament claimed that a local pharmaceutical company is on the verge of manufacturing cure for the deadly coronavirus.

“A professor who manufactured the treatment for coronavirus in the U.S., and he has donated the patent to Uganda and within a fortnight, the treatment will be made here,” Ugandan Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga said.

“It will be available on the market here, in Uganda. It’s being made by a company called Dei International. Not that we should be relaxed, but there’s hope,” added Kadaga.

Kadaga’s comments came on the back of a meeting with Professor Sarfaraz Niazi, a scientist from the University of Illinois in the United States, and the proprietors of Dei Biopharma Uganda Limited, VOA reported.

Ugandan Minister of Health Dr. Ruth Aceng, is, however, of a different opinion, warning that the claims by Kadaga were false.

Aceng has been working closely with the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control since the outbreak.

“There’s no research that has been approved by WHO clearly saying, ‘let the countries implement this.’ Until WHO has said, ‘this is the way to go,’ we still know that the treatment for COVID is supportive treatment, lots of fluids and analgesics for those who are in pain,” VOA quoted Aceng as saying.

“For those who are in the hospital with the severe form, we want to rehydrate them, give them oxygen where it is necessary and treat pneumonia, where there’s pneumonia.”

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s defense minister believes the pandemic was God’s “punishment” on the US and the West for imposing sanctions on members of the ruling regime.

“Coronavirus is the work of God punishing countries who imposed sanctions on us,” Zimbabwe’s defense minister Oppah Muchinguri said Saturday at a rally.

“They are now staying indoors. Their economies are screaming just like they did to our economy.”

Thirty countries in Africa have confirmed cases including Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Egypt.