South Sudan reports first case of COVID-19

FVP Dr. Machar. Photo: Anadolu/File

Juba, April 5, 2020 (SSNA) — The government of South Sudan has reported its first case of Coronavirus also known as COVID-19, the country’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar announced on Sunday.

The news came barely a day after the head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISSS) David Shearer told Newshub Nation that South Sudan probably have Coronavirus and that the country lacks necessary medical test equipment.

“Almost inevitably, I think that COVID-19 is here but we just don’t know it yet. This health situation here is pretty dire. I mean, 90 percent of the health facilities here are run by international organisations just to keep things going,” Shearer said on Saturday.

Currently, South Sudan’s infectious disease hospital only has 35 beds and 10 ventilators, he added.

Machar addressed the nation at a news conference in Juba, saying a 29-year old woman who recently arrived in the country from Ethiopia. Machar revealed that the woman is a humanitarian worker and that she first showed symptoms of the virus on April 2.

Dr. Machar told the nation that the best medicine to cure the COVID-19 now is ‘social-distancing’.

“The only vaccine is social distancing,” he said.

The South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) understands that the patient is now isolated and being treated at a United Nations-run site.