PHOTO: Buses seen in Elegu/Nimule border post. Photo by Garang Abraham/Eye Radio. Mar 6, 2020

The Ugandan authorities have temporarily closed the Nimule-Elegu border on Saturday over coronavirus fears, the Chief Inspector of police in Nimule has said.

Col. Mbiko Barakat disclosed that for the second day Uganda continued restricting the movement of people at the border point.

Uganda has confirmed its first coronavirus case, the minister health there announced on Sunday.

The patient is reportedly a 36-year-old Ugandan male who arrived in Uganda from Dubai aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Saturday morning.

Hundreds of people traveling to and from the two countries have also remained stranded at the border or forced to return.

Speaking to Eye Radio today from Nimule Town, Col. Barakat stated that the Ugandan authorities have only released trucks carrying food items today and other commodities to cross the border into South Sudan.

“Yesterday, they [Uganda] closed the border and they said nobody should enter whether their citizens or ours because all buses which came were parked at the Custom including all the passengers,” Col. Barakat said.

“They [Uganda] only released Lorries with food items, the owners of the goods, the drivers and their assistants.”

The senior police officer said Uganda has stopped movement of people indefinitely.

“Abruptly this morning, they [Uganda] released the Lorries which carries food items and after a few minutes, I saw some buses which have already entered South Sudan’s side of the border.”

“They [Uganda] have not been allowing any person entering South Sudan or Uganda side.”

More than 1,000 cases have now been reported across Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

Many African countries, including coronavirus zero-case South Sudan, have already closed schools and universities and barred large public gatherings.

And some have closed their borders, with Uganda planning to shut down all its borders, stating on Monday, March 23.