At least ten cabinet ministers in South Sudan have tested positive for COVID-19.
South Sudan: Ten ministers, ex-COVID19 task-force members excluding President Salva Kiir & Health Minister test positive for the coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/QLHUH9iiHa
— The African Voice (@teddyeugene) May 22, 2020
Among them is Information Minister and government spokesperson, Michael Makuei.
Makuei told the media that he is asymptomatic.
Among those who have also tested positive is Vice-President Riek Machar, who was part of the country’s high-level task force to fight coronavirus and is now in self-isolation.
Machar and his wife Angelina Teny, who is also the Defence Minister, had on Monday announced they had contracted the virus.
Both are also asymptomatic.
There are fears that decades of conflict has left South Sudan incapable of dealing with a surge in new infections.
So far, South Sudan has recorded 236 cases of COVID-19 and four deaths.
Minister Makuei said all the members of the former task-force had contracted the disease with the exception of the Health Minister.
President Salva Kiir is okay according to Makuei.
Makuei says the former task force members were exposed to the virus during several meetings held in the capital.
President Kiir had earlier announced the dissolution of the task-force over its handling of the pandemic.
In the video below, SABC News Foreign Editor, Sophie Mokoena, looks at the impact of COVID-19 on Africa’s growth and other issues:
