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South Sudan VP Tests Positive for COVID-19

South Sudan’s Vice President, and chairman of the National Committee on Covid-19, Hussein Abdelbagi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
South Sudan’s Vice President, and chairman of the National Committee on Covid-19, Hussein Abdelbagi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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South Sudan VP Tests Positive for COVID-19

South Sudan’s Vice President, and chairman of the National Committee on Covid-19, Hussein Abdelbagi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
South Sudan’s Vice President, and chairman of the National Committee on Covid-19, Hussein Abdelbagi (Asharq Al-Awsat)

South Sudan’s Vice President and chairman of the National Committee on COVID-19 Hussein Abdelbagi tested positive for the virus.

Abdelbagi confirmed the results during a statement on national TV, which makes him the fourth official to contract the virus within a week.

The VP went under self-isolation for 14 days, asserting that he will resume work from home during this period. He urged the public to follow the regulations to contain the rapid spread of the virus.

On Monday, South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit asserted that he is in good health. This was Kiir's first public appearance since it was reported that he contracted the virus.

Meanwhile, the First Vice President Riek Machar, his wife Angelina Teny, and Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth are also in self isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

The Undersecretary of the Health Ministry, Makur Makur Kariom, stated that five health workers contracted the virus. Later, he announced that a doctor died from complications.

Kariom noted that health workers face many challenges including patients’ management and salary issues.

As of Friday, South Sudan has recorded 994 confirmed cases, and ten deaths since the start of the outbreak.

Recently, Juba-based think tank, the Sudd Institute issued a report warning that coronavirus infections could exceed 3000 cases in the first days of June, despite the measures taken by the government to reduce the spread of the pandemic.

“If the present infection trajectory holds into the future, the total number of confirmed cases in South Sudan would be 3,054 by June 6, 2020.”

The report said that preventive measures taken by Kiir last March were “grossly ineffective”, which led to an increase in the number of cases in the country.

Sudd’s director of research, Augustino Mayai, said that based on this estimate, the number of confirmed infections per day would be expected to peak at 96 cases.

He indicated that there are options for the country to adopt, recommending widening testing capabilities as a possible means to reverse this trend.

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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

The US on Monday eased some restrictions on Syria's transitional government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid after opposition factions ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last month.

The US Treasury issued a general license, lasting six months, that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions.

The move does not lift sanctions on the nation that has been battered by more than a decade of war, but indicates a limited show of US support for the new transitional government.

The general license underscores America's commitment to ensuring its sanctions “do not impede activities to meet basic human needs, including the provision of public services or humanitarian assistance,” a Treasury Department statement reads.

Since Assad's ouster, representatives from the nation's new de facto authorities have said that the new Syria will be inclusive and open to the world.

The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaeda, and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster. The US and UN have long designated HTS as a terrorist organization.

HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.

Much of the world ended diplomatic relations with Assad because of his crackdown on protesters, and sanctioned him and his Russian and Iranian associates.

Syria’s infrastructure has been battered, with power cuts rampant in the country and some 90% of its population living in poverty. About half the population won’t know where its next meal will come from, as inflation surges.

The pressure to lift sanctions has mounted in recent years as aid agencies continue to cut programs due to donor fatigue and a massive 2023 earthquake that rocked Syria and Türkiye. The tremor killed over 59,000 people and destroyed critical infrastructure that couldn’t be fixed due to sanctions and overcompliance, despite the US announcing some humanitarian exemptions.