At least 133 health workers have contracted the novel coronavirus as fear of second wave of outbreak in South Sudan escalates.
The Ministry of Health confirmed the report last week and urged the citizens to recommit themselves in following the safety guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization.
The report was first announced during the South Sudan Doctors’ Union one-day medical symposium on South Sudan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Mayen Achiek, the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health who represented Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi, the head of the National Task Force on COVID-19 says the government is aware that doctors are working under very tough conditions.
With a health system so fragile, doctors who have either recovered or having mild symptoms, have returned to work at health facility incredibly under-staffed.
The Ministry of Health says it is conducting tracing of individuals who had contact with the doctors. At the time of writing this article, about six doctor were under Internal Care Units.
The government has reiterated that the public strictly adhere to the rules of social distancing to reduce risk of infection.
South Sudan has so far made 45,220 tests since April when the virus was confirmed in the country.
As of November 5th, confirmed cases reached 2,943 with 59 reported deaths and 1,290 recoveries.
The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention warned on 30th October that governments across the continent must step up and be ready for a possible second wave of the coronavirus.
“The time to prepare for a second wave is truly now,” John Nkengasong, director for Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said, urging governments “not to get into prevention fatigue mode.”
Citing examples from European and American countries, Nkengason said the government of every country must do what it takes to avoid the second wave of outbreak.
“Looking at the trends in the other countries, we must do all we can to avert a second wave of COVID-19. We must make sure that our cases, which have gone down, do not rise again.”
According to the World Health Organization’s Situation Report, the rate of COVID-19 infection among health workers is gradually spiking with 44055 doctors in 43 countries infected.
WHO also sounded alarm over the change in transmission patterns saying “We continue to observe different transmission patterns across the region, with established community transmission seen in 39 (83%) countries, five (11%) countries have clusters of cases and three (6%) with sporadic cases.”