S. Sudan health officials warn travelers against violating COVID-19 health protocols

JUBA – South Sudanese health officials have warned travelers against violating quarantine protocols put in place to curial the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. John Rumunu, Director-General for Preventive Health Services at the Ministry of Health told reporters during the routine weekly briefing on COVID-19 at Emergency Operation Center (EOP) in Juba that violating self-quarantine puts people’s lives at risk of transmission of the virus.

“The challenge is from us the South Sudanese who are coming from outside. I am sure you are witnessing this. They arrived and immediately they get into interaction with their families,” Dr. Rumunu told reporters on Sunday.

“Instead, the international community’s coming to the country especially the aid workers are the ones observing these quarantine measures,” he added.

The health official urged the public to stick to public health measures to help in the fight against the deadly pandemic.

“We as the Ministry of Health want to advise our public that if you traveled out and you are coming in, please observes quarantine measures,” he said.

Dr. Guyo Gurasha, Emergency Program Officer for World Health Organization said that the health authorities are trying their utmost best to safeguard the public to adhere to public health measures.

“We have guidelines and protocols from public health and social measures and when we are quarantined at home, we should make sure that we use masks and ensure physical distancing and hand hygiene,” Dr. Gurasha advised.

He said observing the measures will help to cut down the level of transmission among the people.

“We know the mode of transmission and we know this works well and that is why the guideline is that self-quarantine is at home,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“We really urge our community to make sure that when they are in quarantine, they take public health and social measures seriously for the number of days they are expected to be quarantined,” he added.

The world’s youngest nation has so far reported 10, 82 infections and 115 deaths and administered 30,290 doses of the vaccines since April.