Dr Makur Koriom, undersecretary at the Ministry of Health speaks at a press conference in Juba on Monday, Mar 16, 2020 | Credit | Charles Wote/Eye Radio

The Ministry of health has denied that the Rwandan national who recently tested coronavirus positive contracted the virus in South Sudan. 

According to a statement issued by the Rwandan Ministry of Health on the 15 March, a 34-year-old Rwandan national was tested coronavirus positive two days earlier after returning from South Sudan.

A 34-year-old Rwandan national, male, who entered #Rwanda from #SouthSudan on 6 March tested positive, according to Kigali #coronaviruskenya pic.twitter.com/kT8xvc6RoM

— Eye Radio (@EyeRadioJuba) March 16, 2020

The unnamed foreign national who works for an International NGO, the MEDAIR in South Sudan, traveled from South Sudan to Kigali on 6 March.

“His brother, 36, arrived from Fiji, traveled through USA then from there to Qatar and to Rwanda on the 8 March,” Dr. Makur Korion, undersecretary, told the media on Monday.

“On the 12th of March, the brother who went from here developed symptoms. His brother actually came with symptoms and both tested positive for covid-19.

“But all the indications show that he might have not contracted the disease from South Sudan.”

Monday’s statistics indicates that there were 153, 517 confirmed cases – with 5, 735 deaths globally.

So far, neighboring countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, DRC, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt have confirmed their first coronavirus cases.

For her part, the Country Director of MEDAIR in South Sudan, Anke Meiburg, said the organization is “closely monitoring the situation”.

“We are monitoring the staff, they are doing self-monitoring, we are doing contact tracing as recommended by the Ministry of Health and WHO,” Ms. Meiburg stated.

The World Health Organization suggests that you can protect yourself and family from coronavirus by frequent hand washing with soap and water.

It encourages the public to always maintain social distancing, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth,

The WHO also advised for practices of respiratory hygiene by covering the mouth and nose with bent elbow or tissue when coughing or sneeze.