Private labs fail to report Covid-19 cases during festive season

Photo shows John Rumunu, the Acting Covid-19 Incident manager
By Simon Deng

South Sudan’s health ministry says it’s unable to provide accurate information on the number of people infected by COVID-19 in the country because private laboratories authorized to conduct tests have failed to provide data to the ministry in late December 2021.

“There is non-reporting of data by some private labs (including Biolab, PIC and Check ups) in the last 5 days, so the current trends do not reflect the true COVID-19 situation in the country especially in Juba.” said Dr. John Rumunu, who is also the Acting Covid-19 Incident manager

Rumunu urged the public to strictly observe the rules of social distancing and other public health measures particularly handwashing and mandatory facemask wearing in crowded public spaces.

South Sudan reported 110 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total cumulative number confirmed to 15152, number of people who recovered stands at 12,789 and cumulative deaths is at 135 since the outbreak was reported in the country in April 2020.

Dr. Rumunu says the data from the private laboratories will be reported as backlogs when they become available.