BREAKING: South Sudan President secretly battling COVID-19
May 21, 2020(SSNN) — South Sudan’s incumbent, president Salva Kiir Mayardit, is secretly battling Coronavirus “behind closed doors”, a high profile insider reveals to South Sudan News Now.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit secretly battling Coronavirus in Juba, South Sudan(Photo credit: supplied)
The confidential insider confirmed that president Salva Kiir tested positive, a day after his First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, and 59 other government officials tested positive to COVID-19.
The South Sudan News Now reached out tothe Republic Palace shortly after the Arabic online news media “Al-Mighar” quoted government sources claiming that the president has also tested positive,
Other senior government officials including lT. Gen. David Yauyau and members of Salva Kiir’s family, who met the president recently, also tested positive to COVID-19.
Despite that South Sudan Presidential Press Unit has rubbished Al-Mighar’s report as a “white lie”, a high profile senior official said there is “no point” to keep such an important event as a secret.
“Yes, the president has tested positive. Everyone around him also tested positive. In fact majority of the politicians are now quarantined as each of us is battling the virus.” The official said,
“We understand the complication and we do not want the public to panic but after all this is what we are facing right now, some of us do not show signs, and others have already recovered” he reiterates.
The official, who refused to be identified due to what he terms as “sensitivity of the report”, blames the presidential press unit for keeping the public in the dark over such an important development.
Asked if the president wished his First Vice President and all-time rival, Dr. Riek Machar, a quick recover yesterday through a letter that went viral on social media, the official said it was an attempt to divert attention.
“President Salva never write such letters. What for? He could have called him on phone” The insider claims
“Since Riak has announced his condition, someone somewhere may want to exploit that to keep the public misinformed. This was all to divert attention from President’s scenario” The official continued.
A high profile figure, who is allegedly sick, has been sneaked out of the country this afternoon, however, the national security in the airport drove the media away and downplayed the event.
South Sudan did not report cases of the coronavirus until April 2, 2020 but since then the numbers have slowly multiplied until last week when the pandemic exploded among the politicians and military officers.
Many government officials initially downplayed the virus and some even denied their own results due to fear of stigmatization.
Until last week multiple deaths from COVID-19 were reported as “short illness” as officials could no longer resist the virus in their quarantines.
Many officials including the Minister of Information, Hon. Michael Makuei Lueth, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Hon. Martin Elia Lomoro, Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs, among other officials, are currently battling COVID-19 in their quarters.
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