7 people dies of coronavirus in Yambio

JUBA – South Sudan health officials on Sunday announced seven COVID-19 related deaths in in Western Equatoria state’s capital Yambio.

According to health experts, the deaths occurred between the last week of August and the last three weeks.

Speaking to reporters during the routine Sunday weekly briefing on COVID-19 at Emergency Operation Center (EOP) in Juba, Dr Angelo Guop Thon, officer in charge of the Public Health Emergency Center said the cases in Yambio were confirmed after a postmortem was conducted in Yambio.

Guop added that the postmortem was conducted in response to increasing number of deaths in the community with COVID-like symptoms.

“This week, we have registered 7 new death reported cases; these 7 new cases have been the cumulative number of 121. It brought the total of deaths to 28. These 7 mortality cases come from Yambio Western Equatoria state,” Guop told reporters on Sunday.

Guop said this reported new case brings the number of registered COVID-19 related deaths in the country to 128 since the start of the pandemic last year.

“The cases were reported in different counties in Yambio, these deaths happen in the last week of August and 3 weeks of September. There are actually four weeks cumulative of deaths from western Equatoria; they were not reported because of some challenges on the ground,” he said.

“They died in the community when samples were collected by a rapid response team, four of these death samples were collected while they were still alive, the number shot up to 128,” he added.