JUBA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Friday imposed travel restrictions on 68 countries and one territory that have reported local transmission of the COVID-19.
All citizens of the affected countries are barred from entering the east African country and South Sudanese citizens are also advised to avoid unessential travels to those countries, the government said.
Abdon Agaw, secretary-general of the government of South Sudan, told reporters in the capital Juba that the travel ban is a precautionary measure aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus into the conflict-torn country.
"Prevention is the key to escaping the onslaught of this disease and our bet is to do everything possible to not let this disease come in," Agaw said.
The countries denied access into South Sudan include four African nations, 15 in Asia, 33 in Europe, eight in the Americas, seven in the Middle East and the occupied Palestine territory.
Although there is no case of COVID-19 in South Sudan, the country remains under high risk of importation of the virus from affected countries due to travel, trade and social linkages, the health ministry said in a statement Friday.
The ban only applies to countries that have reported domestic transmission of the Coronavirus but not imported cases.
"If you are a South Sudanese, please cancel your travel plans because the government will only allow essential travels and those travels will only be allowed on case by case," said Makur Koriom, undersecretary of the ministry of health.
The Ministry of Health said it has received three alerts since the start of the outbreak and all have tested negative, adding that a total of 141 travelers from China, Italy, South Korea, Thailand and Japan traveling into the country have been identified as high-risk, and 85 of them are under close follow-up.
"We have to do everything possible that this disease does not come to our country given the precocious health situation in our country," Koriom said.
