President Salva Kiir prays during a church service in Juba in recently | Credit | Courtesy

Places of worship are expected to resume services all over the country in about two weeks, according to the Secretary General of the South Sudan Council of Churches.

Father James Oyet says this comes after the advisory committee of the national taskforce on coronavirus discussed the matter with the churches.

In March, the president suspended Sunday prayers and all church activities as a safety measure to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

President Salva Kiir also recently promised religious leaders that he would soon allow believers to congregate in places of worship.

Father Oyet says the team has advised religious leaders to carry out health awareness campaign before the reopening of places of worships on 20 September.

“We need to observe the health protocols as we reopen the places of worship,” he told religious representatives on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health urged institutions of learning and places of worship that have been allowed to reopen to strictly enforce coronavirus preventive measures.

On Monday, the vice chancellor of the University of Juba announced that the institution would resume in-person classes for a category of students next week.

They include all science students, all first years, and all students enrolled in Art, Music and Drama courses.

Students enrolled in the school of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences shall embark on e-learning.

But according to the Covid-19 task force, universities will be reopened on a case-by-case basis after putting in place coronavirus preventive measures.

Dr Richard Laku is a member of the taskforce and the Incident Manager for the COVID-19 Response at the Ministry of Health.

“If any university has their own arrangement and want to try similar steps, they need to present and show that they will be able to adhere to some of the measures that will be proposed to them,” Dr Laku stated.

He went on to warn that if any case of coronavirus is confirmed at the university, the government will shut it down.

“If any of the students or class get confirmed case of Covid-19, the whole university will be closed as well,” Dr Laku added.

As of Tuesday, there were 2,555 confirmed cases with 48 deaths in South Sudan.

According to the ministry of health, most of the confirmed cases in recent weeks are imported ones.