Malawi Covid-19 cases rise to 65; health ministry worried with porous borders

May 17, 2020
| Report Focus News
A passenger's body temperature is being tested at the gate of entry upon arrival at the Murtala International Airport in Lagos, on March 2, 2020. - Nigeria is monitoring 58 people who had contact with an Italian man infected with the new coronavirus, the health minister said Monday, as officials scrambled to stop the disease spreading. Africa's most populous country on Friday confirmed the first case of the virus in sub-Saharan Africa after the patient was diagnosed in the economic hub Lagos. (Photo by BENSON IBEABUCHI / AFP) (Photo by BENSON IBEABUCHI/AFP via Getty Images)

Malawi- Malawi’s Covid-19 cases have risen from 63 to 65 within a space of three days following a couple that tested positive of the virus after returning from Tanzania via Lake Malawi yesterday. 

Numbers of those people testing positive of Coronavirus after visiting Tanzania have now risen to 12, while 23 are from other countries in Europe, America, Mozambique, and South Africa. 

Tanzania has over 500 confirmed cases of covid-19.

The couple that recently tested positive, is a 33 year old man and his 35 years old wife who returned from Tanzania on May 12 , 2020.

Minister of Health Jappie Mhango said health authorities at the Northern district of Nkhatabay were alerted about the people who were using unchartered routes by the Lake to enter into Malawi. 

Mhango said the people were then tracked and screened resulting in the couple testing positive of the novel virus. 

Meanwhile, the ministry has decried the porous borders especially the lake Malawi , where both Tanzanians and Mozambicans have taken advantage to use to enter the country.

About three people have so far died, and 24 people are reported to have recovered from the virus, while 38 are still sick. About 1700 people have so far been tested.

So far, the Malawi Defence Force as well as Police have been deployed to patrol the Lake Malawi among other borders to control on the illegal entry of immigrants from coronavirus hotspot countries.