Eighteen more people in South Sudan have tested positive for the coronavirus disease raising the total number of infections to 174.

A total of 175 test results were released on Monday according to the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Makur Koriom says 16 of the confirmed cases are South Sudanese while two are truck drivers intercepted at Nimule border.

Out of the 16 South Sudanese, two are from the internally displaced persons’ camps commonly known as PoCs in Juba, one random sample from Al-Sabah Children’s Hospital, one from a zone in Juba, 10 were alert cases and others are contacts of the previous cases.

“This is a new development, a new dimension in the spread of the disease in the country,” Dr. Makur said of the cases at PoC3.

“A couple of days ago we reported one case among the PoC dwellers but that was in Bentiu. Now we have seen two cases in Juba.”

South Sudan still has two recoveries and no deaths from the coronavirus disease.