The Ministry of Health has finally confirmed a sixth person has been found with the coronavirus in South Sudan.

Yesterday, an unconfirmed report was being circulated online that a sixth case has been registered.

But an official at the government’s taskforce on coronavirus could not confirm it when asked by Eye Radio.

But a statement from the taskforce last night declared the new case is of a person who has “no history of travel” or contact with previous cases.

“On the 25th of April 2020, South Sudan confirmed its case number 6 of COVID-19,” read the statement.

Dr. Makur Koriom, the spokesperson of taskforce says the case is out of 200 samples tested over the last 48 hours. 

“This is a sixty-year-old South Sudanese national who is not sick, did not complain of anything, but he was tested because he wants to travel to one of the states of South Sudan,” he affirmed.

The Ministry of Health has recently started testing people who want to travel outside Juba.   

The patient whose details have not been disclosed is now in an isolation centre.

The government is also following up on anyone who may have come in contact with the patient.

But the taskforce suspects he may have come into contact with 101 people before he was quarantined.

“A full contact tracing is now underway,” the body said.

Coronavirus is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered virus.

You can be infected by breathing in the virus if you are within proximity of someone who has coronavirus, or by touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth.

You can protect yourself by cleaning your hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.