South Sudan’s Presidential secretary has confrmed that more than 20 staff members in the president’s office have contacted the corona virus.
Presss secretary Ateny Wek Ateny said that among those infected include cooks, drivers and body guards.
“The number has increased. Many officials tested positive for Covid-19. There are a few junior staff that contracted the virus. Senior staff that tested positive for the virus include policy analyst Madut Majok and me. We are all healthy and quarantining as recommended by World Health Organization.” Ateny continued to clarify that the President didn’t contract Covid-19. “He is healthy and he has been at work since the rumours emerged. However, the President has been working at home as a precautionary measure after many of us contracted the virus,” he explained, as reported by The East African
Former South Sudan Ambassador to Russia, Telar Ring Deng succumbed to Covid 19 in December last year. South Sudan has so far recorded a total of over 6,000 infections and over 80 deaths due to Covid 19.
It has been reported that a good number of government officials have contacted and recovered from the virus. One key government figure is Vice President Riek Machar who contacted the virus last year together with his wife Angelina Teny.
