Father and daughter in Uganda 'arrested for giving out fake coronavirus vaccine'

A father and daughter have been arrested in Uganda for giving out a fake coronavirus vaccine, it has been reported.

The pair were arrested in the Mayuge district, about 75 miles from the capital, Kampala, according to the BBC.

Scientists have yet to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.

On Tuesday, a UK health chief warned that a vaccine may never be found.

Read more: Government has made 'serious mistake' in tackling coronavirus

There have been more than 116,000 cases of coronavirus worldwide, according to John Hopkins University, including 4,088 deaths. More than 64,000 people have recovered after contracting the virus.

There have been no cases of coronavirus in Uganda. In the north of the continent, there have been 20 cases in Algeria and 59 in Egypt, where one person has died from the disease.

Health experts are said to be puzzled at the low coronavirus rate across African countries.

Read more: How UK response to coronavirus outbreak compares to EU

Police in Uganda said they had received reports that people were being given some kind of mixture to purportedly inoculate them against the coronavirus.

Two people were arrested but have since been released on police bond, the BBC reported.

Samples of the liquid concoction they allegedly gave out have been taken for testing at a government forensic laboratory in Kampala.

Police believe the suspects gave the fake vaccine to people for free in the hope of later charging a fee for it.

Meanwhile, England's deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries said on Tuesday that the start of the UK peak of the coronavirus outbreak is expected within the next 10 to 14 days.

She said "many thousands of people" would contract coronavirus as the disease continued to spread in the UK.

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