Malawi President, Peter Mutharika on Thursday confirmed that the country had recorded three cases of COVID-19.

They are the first to recorded cases in the southern African country.

Local news outlets report that the President made the announcement in a Special Address to the Nation.

The address, carried by the state-owned MBCTV lasted one minute and 23 seconds.

The president disclosed that all three cases were confirmed in Lilongwe.

Mutharika said one of the patients is a 63-year-old who had recently travelled to India. The other two are her relation and her domestic worker.

A week ago, Mutharika declared a state of national disaster over the pandemic which continues to spread across the continent. With Malawi officially becoming the 50th African country to be infected, there are four countries uninfected – Lesotho, Comoros, South Sudan and Sao Tome and Principe.