Uganda Children Authority says cases of child labour increased during the lockdown because some parents had lost their jobs, thus resorting to sending their children to fend for their families.
The body advised parents against sending children out to the streets and exposing to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Martin Kiiza, the executive director of the Uganda Children Authority, said parents should also postpone visits to relatives and friends during this period.
“Parents must stop sending children to go out to fend for their family. When children go out, they risk getting infections,” Kiiza said.
He argued that most children are still ignorant about the health ministry’s preventive measures of curbing COVID-19, a situation that exposes them to the virus from people they meet along the way and in the markets.
Uganda has registered 4,291 cases of COVID-19. This was after the health ministry announced 190 new confirmed cases from samples that were tested on Thursday.
The new cases include 95 contacts and alerts from Kampala, 40 from Kitgum, 13 in Zombo, 12 in Moroto, seven in Lira, four in Mbarara and other districts.
Thursday’s results also revealed that two people from Kampala died from the disease. This brings the total number of deaths to 48 while 1,998 have since recovered.