COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. The outbreak started in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and recognised it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of today 4 April 2020, more than 1,026,974 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in more than 190 countries and 200 territories, resulting in more than 53,975 deaths. More than 217,433 people have recovered.

As of today 15:30 pm, 4th April, 2020 United States of America has the highest number of confirmed cases ie 245,573 cases, Italy has the highest number of deaths ie 13,915 deaths and Chain has the highest number of recovered patients ie 76,741.

The virus is mainly spread during close contact and by small droplets produced when people cough, sneeze, or talk. These small droplets may be produced during breathing but the virus is not generally airborne. People may also catch COVID-19 by touching a contaminated surface and then their eyes, nose or mouth. It is most contagious when people are symptomatic, although spread may be possible before symptoms appear. The time between exposure and symptom onset is typically around five days, but may range from 2 to 14 days. Common symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Complications may include pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. There is no known vaccine or specific antiviral treatment. Recommended preventive measures include hand washing, covering one's mouth when coughing, maintaining distance from other people, and monitoring and self-isolation for people who suspect they are infected.

Efforts to prevent the virus spreading include travel restrictions, quarantines, curfews, workplace hazard controls, event postponements and cancellations, and facility closures. These include national or regional quarantines throughout the world, various border closures or incoming passenger restrictions, screening at airports and train stations, and outgoing passenger travel bans. The pandemic has led to severe global social economic disruption, the postponement or cancellation of sporting, religious, and cultural events, and widespread fears of supply shortages resulting in panic buying. Schools and universities have closed either on a nationwide or local basis in more than 160 countries, affecting more than 1.5 billion students.

After Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania confirmed to have had patients with the Novel Coronavirus, Uganda is at a high risk of being attacked by the same disease. All Ugandan's are advised to take a keen eye and take some of the following precautions to avoid the spread of the disease.

Will I die if I catch the disease?

No!

• Almost 80% of people have mild symptoms and recover from the disease in 2 weeks.
• Most of the symptoms can be treated with timely medical care.
• Risk of death is only higher in older people (above an age of ~60 years) and people with pre-existing health conditions.
• Older people are twice as likely to have serious COVID-19 illness.
• Most coronavirus led illnesses are generally mild, especially for children and young adults.
• Coronavirus has "high infectivity but low mortality rate between 2-3% 

What are those symptoms of coronavirus?

• Cough
• Fever
• Difficult in breathing
• shortness of breath

These are like common cold or flue and may appear 2-14 days of exposure. 

It is four days since the president's directive on the closer of all Universities, Schools and Tertiary institutions to reduce the fast spread of Corona virus. Uganda has today fallen a victim and is also counted among those countries affected with Corona virus. This was confirmed today by the Minister of Health (Jane Ruth Aceng).

The affected is a male Ugandan citizen 36 years of age who had traveled to Dubai for shopping on the 17th of March 2020. He traveled when he was well and on coming back, he had some symptoms of the virus ie: high fever and loss of appetite. The patient had no flue and cough but on suspecting him, a blood sample was picked from him and taken to the virus research institute where the sample tested positive with Corona virus.

This caused the call for another president's national press address which is to take place today the 22nd of March 2020 at 4pm. Stay posted for any other updates.

Uganda is advised to continue taking the following precautions to avoid the quick spread of the virus.

Are you in your form 6 vacation and scared of which University to join since all the Education system has  been affected?

• Clarke International University engages all it's students online to foster continued learning.
• Apply now

#makingadifference #COVID-19 #staysafe

‘In order to become a successful entrepreneur, it is essential to go through extensive further education, culminating in an MBA from a prestigious university,’ - said no actual entrepreneur, ever. 

In fact, many of the most famously successful entrepreneurs we know of abandoned higher education to pursue their ventures: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. They all dropped out of school, and this does not seem to have hindered their success in any way. 

And when the Nobel prize-winning Professor Mohamed Yunus, who pioneered the concept of microfinance, launched the new CIU brand and School of Business and Applied Technology, he made a point of saying that entrepreneurs need not go to university to become successful. This may seem like a strange statement to make at the launch of a new business school, but Professor Yunus has a Nobel Prize for his work in social entrepreneurism; he is a hard man to argue with. And I for one agree. It is not necessary, and some education systems can actually be detrimental to the entrepreneurial mindset. 

An entrepreneur needs to be imaginative, innovative, creative, to think outside of the box, to look at a problem and turn it into an opportunity. In actuality, education often does the opposite. It tells us what the ‘right’ way to approach a problem is and trains us to regurgitate this response to that particular problem. But when a new problem arises, our abilities to solve it have been squashed. 

So what is the point of education? Is it pointless for an aspiring entrepreneur to go to school? Of course not. While it is not hard to find entrepreneurs who have dropped out of higher education, it is hard to find examples that have had no education. Clearly a basic grasp of fundamental skills is needed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. But what about beyond this? Well, that depends on the approach of the educator. Most entrepreneurs have acquired their opportunities during their higher education and found quickly that once tackling that opportunity they outgrew their university or college. That being the case, I would consider the university or college to have done its job well. One way or another they have introduced an opportunity to that entrepreneur.

However, if your business school presents a singular and formulaic approach to entrepreneurial success, I would suggest you drop out immediately and that you are better off on your own. There is no one solution to a business problem. 

But what if there was another way for higher education?

What if your program gave real-life case studies from real-life entrepreneurs that you could meet and interrogate for yourself?

What if it gave you actual practical skills that are applicable in your chosen business field?

What if it gave you opportunities to practice those skills in a real-life context? 

What if it challenged you to be more innovative?

And what if the core values of that University and School of business were the same as those necessary for a successful entrepreneur: to lead, to innovate, and ultimately to transform. 

You can probably see where I am going with this. Let me summarize by reiterating what Professor Yunnus said at the launch of our School of Business and Technology: you don’t have to go to University to be a successful entrepreneur. But if you want the best possible chance of success, CIU and SoBAT will be a partner to give you the practical skills you need, to equip you with experience - not academic notions - and to create opportunities for entrepreneurship. We value the very core fundamentals of entrepreneurship.

Written By,

Sean Clarke, CEO of Clarke Group Education.

Lead, Innovate, Transform.