South Sudan’s Health Ministry on Friday reported 30 new coronavirus cases after testing 186 samples, bringing the total number of infections to 120.

Some of the new cases are South Sudanese nationals who have been granted permission to travel to states from Juba, according to Dr. Richard Lako, Health Ministry’s Director General for Planning and Budget.

He noted that some of the new cases are contacts of the previously confirmed cases. "11 of the 30 cases are from Abyei mourners who accompanied the body of the late Edward Lino,” Richard said.

He added, “We have from Yei seven of these 30, and these seven are alerts that came from Yei and this shows us that Yei has local transmission. Lastly, we have one truck driver who was spotted at Nimule border crossing and then one alert that came from Rubkona.”

The rise in coronavirus cases comes a day after the high-level taskforce on COVID-19 decided to loosen lockdown restrictions in the country.