Yei River County Executive Director, Khalid Modi Apollo, 65, succumbed to Covid-19 at Yei Civil Hospital on Thursday last week.
Dr. Joseph Malish, the Yei Civil Hospital medical director, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the deceased was admitted to the hospital due to high blood pressure but later tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
“He met the case definition of Covid-19 besides having a chronic form of high blood pressure and cardiac complications and the cause of his death is Covid-19,” Dr. Malish said. “What I want to tell our people in the community is that Covid-19 is real and I want people to stick to preventive guidelines.”
He added that the Covid-19 surveillance team has started contact tracing and the close family members and county staff have been instructed to remain home to prevent the likelihood of transmission.
For his part, Julius Taban, a close family member of the deceased official confirmed that he died of Covid-19.
“When he was medically checked, it was discovered that he tested Covid-19 positive and we were also told by the medical officials that he died of Covid-19 and currently his body is still in isolation waiting for medical directions on how to transport and bury the remains,” Taban said.
Khalid Modi, who is survived by four children, has worked in several local government positions including Payam director in Kajo-Keji and later a county executive director in Lainya, Mukaya, Mugwo, and Yei River County as a senior county executive director.
The family said efforts are underway to transport his remains to Juba for burial.