Government has asked companies to implore their workers to donate at least shs 10,000 each from their salaries in a bid to fight the novel coronavirus disease in Uganda.

“We are appealing to 1.5 million formally employed workers, through their CEOs to donate about Shs 10,000 each for the months of May and June and we hope that the companies can match that 10,000 donations from each of their employees,” Mr Patrick Mwehire, chairman of the fundraising sub-committee Covid-19 national response fund said.

“We think that could raise us about Shs 30 billion. The Shs 15 billion could come directly from the 1.5 million employees and if the companies were so gracious enough to match, that would get us another Shs15 billion to get to Shs30 billion,” Patrick added.

The Covid-19 national response fund committee told journalists at the prime minister’s office yesterday that they were looking for about 15 billion to build 10 laboratories at the border.

Similarly, the general duties minister in the office of the prime minister, Mary Karororo Okurut said that government had formally written to private companies requesting them to contribute voluntarily to the task force.

The minister maintained that every single contribution would go a long way as they tried to raise more funds for personal protection gear, testing kits and support materials for medical teams at the frontline.