South Sudan’s government on Monday reported 18 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 174.
Dr. Makur Koryom, Health Ministry’s Undersecretary told reporters in Juba that the new cases were confirmed positive after the public health laboratory tested 175 samples.
"18 cases were confirmed by the public health laboratory, and 16 of them are South Sudanese nationals, while the other two are foreign truck drivers stopped at Nimule border crossing where samples were taken and tested," Koryom said.
Koryom disclosed that some of the new cases are contacts of the previously confirmed cases.” Out of the 16 South Sudanese, two are from the PoC3 [Protection of Civilians site] in Juba. This is a new development, a new dimension in the spread of the disease in the country,” he said.
He added, “A couple of days ago we reported one case among the PoC dwellers but that was in Bentiu. Now we have seen two cases in Juba.”
The health official pointed out that the ministry of health has divided Juba into five zones and within the zones, there are health facilities used for random testing of samples.