All recent deaths in Juba are results of coronavirus – official
Dr. John Garang Center for Infectious Diseases (Photo credit: SSBC)
May 20, 2020 (SSNN) – Many people who died recently in South Sudan’s capital Juba are victims of the the novel coronavirus, a senior government official said.
Dr Angok Kuol Tiir, the coronavirus incident manager at the ministry of health told the Australia-based radio station SBS Dinka that many people who died recently have tested positive posthumously for coronavirus.
Dr. Angok said the infection is going to get worse. He said many people are sceptical and believe COVID-19 is a hoax.
“Many people are refusing to follow prevention and control rules like social distancing rules. Many people are insisting on travelling to the villages. These people are taking the disease there,” he said.
“We are expecting a disaster to happen soon. There are people who have tested post but they do not abide with quarantine rules. They are still moving freely,” Dr Angok added.
“People are still insisting on repatriating corpses back to the villages. Yet we cannot guaranteed these people [who accompany the bodies] are not spreading the virus. Because you can test negative today and might test positive in the next test,” he explained.
He said that there are 74 beds for COVID-19 patients at the moment. However, once Dr John Garang Infectious Disease Unit is renovated, there will be another 200 beds available.
He said the issue of ventilators is a challenge.
“Many people have promised that they have donated ventilators but it is nothing but just a lip service. The government said it had purchased ventilators but they have been saying, ‘they will arrive tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow’. So we are still waiting for the ventilators,” he said.
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