South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar (R) and his wife Angelina Teny, (Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs)
By Our Correspondent, JUBA South Sudan
South Sudan's First
Vice President Riek Machar and his wife Angelina Teny tested positive for novel
coronavirus, an official confirmed on Monday.
James
Gatdet Dak, Machar's press secretary, said that a number of Machar's office staff
and bodyguards have also tested positive with the respiratory disease following
samples tested on May 13.
"He
has issued a public statement declaring that he is found positive, and from
today will self-quarantine in his residence for the next 14 days," Dak
said in a statement issued on Monday evening.
Speaking
on the state-owned television station, Machar confirmed having tested positive.
"I
want to declare that, I, the deputy chair of the high-level task force on
COVID-19 has been tested and found positive," Machar told the South Sudan
Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC).
"There
are other members who are also tested and found positive. I can only say at
this stage that madam Angelina Teny, the Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs is also found positive," Machar said.
Machar
said the minister of health is not among those who have tested positive.
"She tested a day before we tested, she was found negative," said
Machar.
Meanwhile,
South Sudan's number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 347 after 57 new positive
cases.
Angelo
Goup Thon Kouch, chief of operations for COVID-19 pandemic in the Ministry of
Health, said the latest cases of coronavirus were confirmed by the public
health laboratory in the last 48 hours.
Thon
said the latest cases were part of the ongoing contact tracing and
surveillance. "The public health laboratory confirmed 57 new cases of
coronavirus, including two deaths since Sunday," Thon said in a statement.
He confirmed two more deaths in the last 48 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to six, and four recoveries. - Africa
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