East African Community (EAC) heads convened in a virtual meeting vowing to tackle the cross-border spread of COVID19 and the continued free movement of goods.
The meeting chair, President Kagame of Rwanda, insisted that EAC governments must prioritize the implementation of measures that will ensure uninterrupted cross border movement of goods such as rolling out border screening and testing measures, especially for truck drivers.
Further, the countries agreed to intensify contact tracing efforts to isolate and treat those infected by the virus.
However, the leaders lamented the challenge posed in the fight against coronavirus such as the emergence of truck drivers as a high-risk carrier population.
Heads of state in attendance include Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Salva Kiir (South Sudan). On his part, President Kenyatta called for a collective intervention strategy to fight the pandemic.
There was consensus among the head of states that the measures taken so far in managing Covid-19 as satisfactory. Member states vowed to prioritize local production of essential supplies,invest more in agricultural production, agro-processing and value addition,
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