Highlights
- South Sudan tested 28 people positive of COVID-19 in one compound
- The machine used for testing is manual
- No report of COVID-19 confirmed outside Juba
The Ministry of Health traced the contacts of patient number five after they realised he was living with 43 people in the same compound. These people were planning to leave Juba for Tonj, but they were stopped and asked to go for COVID-19 testing. Patient number five has never travelled outside the country recently. However, his/her case is considered to be a victim of community transmission.
“Patient number five was living with 43 people same compound. Anyone who came to contact with was traced and asked to be tested. These people use to have meetings, and they were about to leave Juba to Tonj. They were stopped, and 41 people were test and 28 out of them came back positive. I can confirm that South Sudan has 34 cases of COVID-19.”
With this vast number of people in the same compound, the ministry of health swiftly started tracking and identify those who might have comes to contact with patient number five. Forty-one people went for testing, and 28 of them were found to be infected with COVID-19. Dr Angok also said that the issue of not having enough testing kit is becoming a big problem.
“The testing process is also tedious because the machine that we are using is manual, not automatic. It takes a longer time to process one case. I think the reasons why we don’t have a huge number of COVID-19 is because of us not having enough testing kits. There is a community transmission now in South Sudan, and we do ask people to follow the rules of social distancing.”
There are reports that many South Sudanese continue to ignore the Social Distancing rules and that could worsen the level of community transmission, said Dr Angok. There are no enough health facilities or equipment for testing and could be a hurdle in trying to find help for people of South Sudan.
