South Sudan said on Thursday it had registered its first coronavirus death, according to a statement from the president’s office, although the identity and other details of the victim were not given.
As of Thursday, the young African country had recorded a total of 231 cases of COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, and the UN said on Tuesday that infections had for the first time been detected in a heavily crowded civilian protection site in the capital Juba.
South Sudan this week announced the novel virus had reached a camp of some 30 000 displaced people who have been seeking United Nations protection in the capital Juba since 2013. Two cases have been confirmed.
A case has also been confirmed in a similar camp in northern Bentiu, home to almost 120 000 people.
“This sharp increase in COVID-19 patients is very worrying. What is even more concerning is that now COVID-19 has started spreading among the population of some of the largest and most congested displaced persons camps in the country,” said Claudio Miglietta, head of mission of the medical aid charity MSF.
