Fellow Malawians,

As you are all aware, the world has been attacked by Coronavirus. And until today, Malawi had no any confirmed case.

However, sadly, I would like to inform the nation that for first time, we now have confirmed cases of Coronavirus disease in the country. There are three cases. The first affected person is a 61-year-old female from Lilongwe.

The affected woman had recently returned from India where she was in contact with a relative who was later confirmed as Coronavirus positive. She was in self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving in Malawi, but later became symptomatic within the 14 days’ quarantine period.

The second case is a relative to the index patient, while the third case is a domestic worker for the index in their household.

We are currently providing initial care and medical management for all three cases. We are also tracing all close contacts and requiring them to go into quarantine for 14 days where they can be observed.

Let me remind all Malawians that Coronavirus is preventable and that we can save lives if we do the following, among other things:

1. Observing social distancing (not less than 1 meter apart)
2. Observing proper hand-washing with soap for not less than 20 seconds
3. Avoiding coughing or sneezing into one’s hands

Not long from today, in view of the confirmed Coronavirus cases, I will be addressing the nation again to announce more measures to stop the spread of the virus.

Let us not panic, but let us be careful. Together, we can win this fight.