Virus Outbreak Could Spin ‘Out of Control’ in South Sudan

Virus Outbreak Could Spin ‘Out of Control’ in South Sudan
Medical staff inside the isolation ward of Ministry of Health Infectious Disease Unit in Juba, South Sudan, in a file photo Alex McBride/AFP via Getty Images
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JUBA, South Sudan—It began with a dry cough, weakness, and back pain. For Reagan Taban Augustino, part of South Sudan’s small corps of health workers trained in treating COVID-19 patients, there was little doubt what he had.

Days later, hardly able to breathe, the 33-year-old doctor discovered just how poorly equipped his country is for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus: None of the public facilities he tried in the capital, Juba, had oxygen supplies available until he reached South Sudan’s only permanent infectious disease unit, which has fewer than 100 beds for a country of 12 million people.