South Sudan COVID-19: Vice president and defence minister test positive for coronavirus

Although the number is relatively low, only 3,908 tests have been conducted.

Aid agencies have been sounding the alarm over a sharp rise in cases in recent days.

Last week, officials announced the virus had reached a camp of some 30,000 displaced people who have been seeking United Nations protection in the capital Juba since 2013. Two cases have been confirmed there.

“We are particularly concerned that there have been a couple of cases that tested positive in the camp here just outside Juba. There are tens of thousands of internally displaced persons living there, so they live in quite cramped conditions,” James Reynolds, from the International Committee of the Red Cross in South Sudan, said in a statement.

He added that measures such as social distancing and regular hand washing would not be easily applicable in the camp.

A case has also been confirmed in a similar camp in northern Bentiu, home to almost 120,000 people.

The country continues to be gripped by humanitarian emergency and hunger, even after Mr Machar and President Salva Kiir — the main rivals in the civil war — formed a unity government in February.