Sudan's top state officials contract Covid-19 amid second wave scare

Top officials in the Sudanese government have contracted Covid-19 as the local ministry of health announced 540 new cases on Saturday.

The Saturday report also indicated that there were 20 new deaths and 211 recoveries.

A statement by the Cabinet stated that Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was again subjected to a Covid-19 test as he was among those in contact with the Minister for Cabinet Affairs Omar Manis who had earlier tested positive.

But the announcement came after the prime minister’s office said Dr Hamdok was isolated after several of his top officials tested positive.

His media advisor, Dalia Al-Robi, along with Mahmoud Hassanein, the director of financial and administrative affairs in his office and Youssef Al-Bashir, the director of the office of the minister of cabinet affairs, had contracted the virus.

Sixteen employees of the Cabinet also tested positive, a statement said.

Sudan has recorded 17,404 cumulative cases, a death toll 1,235 and 10,175 recoveries since March.

University professors die

Local media said that a university lost four of its professors during the past 24 hours due to Covid-19.

Health workers said that the number of people infected with the virus is now more than all hospitals in the country can handle. They called on the government to establish a field hospital to receive cases in order to relieve the pressure on hospitals. They said they expect health facilities to be overwhelmed within a short period of time if they continue to receive more patients than their capacity.

Meanwhile, in Khartoum, licenses of eight wedding halls were withdrawn for violating precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

At the same time, the council of the University of Khartoum suspended studies in all colleges until health precautions are strengthened.