The Ministry of Health has confirmed 11 new cases of Covid-19 over the last 48 hours bringing the country’s cumulative tally to 3576.

The new confirmed positive cases are part of 124 samples of travelers tested by Med Blue Clinic and 143 contacts over the weekend according to Dr. John Rumunu, the Director-General for Preventive Health Services in the Ministry of Health.

“Yesterday (Saturday), they tested 124 samples, all of them came from travelers and we got 11 positive cases. This brings us to an overall number of tests performed so far to 76, 512,” he said during the weekly briefing yesterday.

Dr. Rumunu emphasized that the latest rate of positive cases compared to previous rates that ranged below 8.8% as is the current case, indicates a worsening situation of the disease.

“Let me pause a bit here, 11 out of 124 gives us the percentage of 8.8%, almost 9%. Compared to the previous rate, we are going up, and that the second wave is a reality. We should adhere to all the preventive measures,” he urged.

Meanwhile, Dr. Thoi Loi, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health has reiterated the need for the public to exercise vigilance as reports of new and more contagious strains of the disease emerge in Africa.

Dr. Loi stressed that the new variants reported in South Africa and Britain could easily find their way into the country and may worsen the outbreak.

“The second wave of the coronavirus is real; already there are two strains of the disease reported in South Africa and Britain and all the indicators are that the transmission of these two different strains may be more seriously contagious than the one we are experiencing now. So, we need to take it serious as a country in terms of adhering to the preventive measures,” he asserted.

In the last two weeks running up to this year, 165 cases of the disease have been recorded with one more death bringing the cumulative death to 63 since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

The number of health care workers infected with the disease has also increased to 99 across the country since last year.

The country has reported the disease in all the states but Pibor Administrative Area has not registered a single case since the outbreak early last year.

SOURCE; Juba Monitor