Nairobi — Two people have tested positive in a crowded South Sudanese camp housing 30,000 people

Thousands of war-hit people sheltering in an overcrowded camp in South Sudan now risk contracting COVID-19, charities said on Thursday after the first two cases surfaced.

Add to that the challenge of enforcing social distancing in such cramped quarters, and aid workers fear many more deaths are inevitable after years of war, famine and displacement.

Aid workers said the camps were filled with families, with up to 12 people sharing small, flimsy shelters with little access to water or soap - making it almost impossible to contain the spread of the virus.

"If we add the fact that many people are at a higher risk due to co-morbidities - such as malnutrition, malaria, HIV - it is easy to see how COVID-19 could have catastrophic consequences in South Sudan," said Claudio Miglietta, head of the medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres in South Sudan.

"The U.N. continues to urge displaced people in the sites to follow prevention measures such as social distancing, handwashing, and isolating themselves if they become sick," said Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the U.N.