South Sudan’s first vice president, and former rebel leader Riek Machar, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, his office said Monday.
Machar “has issued a public statement declaring that he is found positive, and will self-quarantine in his residence for the next 14 days,” the statement said.
South Sudan, which is emerging from a devastating six-year civil war, has so far recorded 339 cases of COVID-19 and six deaths, according to the latest figures from the health ministry, also released on Monday.
A case has also been confirmed in a similar camp in northern Bentiu, home to almost 120,000 people.
The country continues to be gripped by humanitarian emergency and hunger, even after Machar and President Salva Kiir, the main rivals in the civil war formed a unity government in February.
