The governor of Torit State has called on the national Ministry of Health to set up a scanner and dispatch a team of medics to the border town of Nimule to prevent possible outbreak of the coronavirus in the country.
Last week, South Sudan began screening all travelers at Juba International Airport to help prevent the importation of coronavirus into the country.
Torit Governor Tobiolo Alberio says a similar scanner should be stationed at Nimule boarder post, arguing that Nimule is an important border crossing point for South Sudan.
Tobiolo stated that South Sudan needs to work hard to make sure the virus does not enter the country saying the country “does not ‘have the capacity’ to handle the virus.
“We don’t want the coronavirus to add another problem to the problems we are trying to solve in the country now,” he said at a handover ceremony of the newly built One Stop Boarder Post in Nimule.
According to the World Health Organization, coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome.
New figures show the virus has killed 636 people and infected 31,161 in mainland China.
The virus has spread overseas with confirmed infections in at least 25 nations.
So far, there have been only two deaths outside of mainland China – one in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.
Due to the global spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global health emergency.