South Sudan VP and Defence Minister tests positive of COVID-19

New Delhi, May 19: South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar who serves also as defence minister of the nation has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said on Monday. Also, his wife Angelina Teny tested positive.

According to the report, a number of his office staff and bodyguards" also tested positive for Covid-19.

Machar said that he would be in self-isolation for 14 days in his residence.

South Sudan, which is emerging from a devastating six-year civil war, has recorded 347 cases and six deaths.

"We are particularly concerned that there have been a couple of cases that tested positive in the camp here just outside Juba. There are tens of thousands of internally displaced persons living there, so they live in quite cramped conditions," James Reynolds, from the International Committee of the Red Cross in South Sudan, said.

Riek Machar is one of the few among world leaders who got affected by coronavirus. Earlier, it was Boris Jhonson, PM of the United Kingdom, who got severely affected by the fatal virus.

Johnson said, "I must ask the country to be patient with continued disruption to our normal way of life, but to be relentless in pursuing our mission to build the systems we need. The worst possible outcome would be a return to the virus being out of control - with the cost to human life, and - through the inevitable re-imposition of severe restrictions - the cost to the economy. We must stay alert, control the virus, and in doing so".