JOHANNESBURG - The speaker of parliament in Uganda Rebecca Kadaga has advised MPs to avoid travelling abroad as the country battles the worst Coronavirus disease, media reported on Friday.
"I want to urge members to desist from travelling because things are really happening. Unless it is necessary, let us stay put in our country because even on the plane, you can sit with people who are sick," she said.
Kadaga cautioned MPs upon the cancellation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting that had been scheduled to take place between 16 and 20 April, in Geneva, Switzerland.
The meeting was scheduled to adopt resolutions on the challenges and risks to peace and security as a consequence of climate change and mainstreaming digitisation and the circular economy to achieve the SDGs.
"The meeting in St. Petersburg in Russia organised in early June by the Russian Federation Parliament has also been cancelled," Kadaga said.
The cancellations came as the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19, a pandemic.
State minister for minerals,Sarah Opendi said that there were no reported cases in the country. She called on the public to remain calm and not to panic.