This archive report was first published on 22 April 2020.
On April 22, 2020, a shocking revelation emerged from South Sudan, where a United Nations employee was found to have left the country despite being under quarantine over suspected Covid-19.
The incident occurred despite the country's High-Level Taskforce on coronavirus imposing strict isolation rules on the staffer, who had been in contact with an infected person.
According to the taskforce, chaired by First Vice President Riek Machar, the UN staffer left the country via a UN aircraft, which is a clear contravention of Internal Health Regulations (IHR 2005).
The taskforce condemned the act in the strongest terms possible and held the UN system in South Sudan accountable for any unseemly events that may ensue.
However, the UN later confirmed that the staffer had left the country in violation of those measures, but claimed he escaped via a commercial flight.
It's still unclear how this was possible, given that South Sudan had shut its international airport to restrict the spread of Covid-19.
