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.

At least one million people around the world have been infected since the outbreak began, according to figures collected by researchers from Johns Hopkins University.

The number of confirmed deaths has passed 50,000, according to the same researchers.

Italy remains the country worst affected by the outbreak, with 13,915 deaths, followed by Spain, with 10,003 deaths. The US is now the third worst affected country, with 5,316 total deaths.