18 March 2020 – Museveni closes schools and suspends religious gatherings

Type of Intervention: Executive Order
Sectors Involved: Education, Immigration, Media/Arts/Culture, Private Sector and Businesses, Transportation
Level of Jurisdiction: National
Lead People/Agency: The President. The implementation of the intervention is the Ministry of Health and internal security agencies.

Overview: Closure of public schools, religious gatherings (including marriages and funerals), cultural events, public rallies, and banning of all outgoing movement of Ugandans through specific countries (Italy, France, South Korea, China, UK, USA, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Norway, Malaysia, Pakistan, San Marino, Austria, Netherlands). Factories and public transportation remain open, but with strict guidelines on operation including mandatory handwashing, installation of temperature monitoring, and restriction of entry to individuals with symptoms of COVID-19. The target was Ugandan nationals and nationals of the category 1 countries listed. The intended effect was to reduce the areas in which individuals would concentrate to avoid opportunities for COVID-19 to spread.
Full details here: https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni-closes-schools-religious-gatherings-coronavirus/688334-5495888-srauuwz/index.html

Type of Justification: Advice of INTERNAL government advisory committee or group, Learning from other jurisdictions
Source of Evidence or Justification: National – academic, National – other
Evidence/Justification: President Museveni regularly cites “our scientists” and refers to other jurisdictions loosely. It is unclear whether there is a clear body of scientists who represent “our scientists”, but there have been informal reports that there are COVID-19 taskforces that are made up of scientists, but with no clarity as to their membership or their decision-making authority.