Malawi has become the latest South African country to announce a three-week lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, reported Reuters.
Other southern African countries like South Africa, Angola and Zimbabwe have already announced full or partial lockdowns. No southern African nations, except South Africa, have reported a significant number of cases yet.
Malawi’s Health and Population Minister Jappie Mhango confirmed that the lockdown will be in effect from April 18 to May 9, adding that all non-essential businesses would close and services would stop.
“If [we are] not careful, Malawi could lose up to 50,000 lives from COVID-19 [the disease caused by the new coronavirus],” President Peter Mutharika said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Malawi has recorded 16 confirmed cases of the coronavirus with two COVID-19-related deaths. South Africa is the southern African nation with the highest number of confirmed cases, currently at over 2,500.
In related news, the country’s Supreme Court has also begun hearing an appeal by President Mutharika against the cancellation of his re-election.
In the May 2019 presidential election, Mutharika, who has been Malawi’s president since 2014, got 38.6 percent of the vote. MCP leader Mr. Lazarus Chakwera got 35.4 percent of the vote, while former Vice President Saulos Chilima of UTM got 20 percent votes. Both Chakwera and Chilima rejected the voting results and filed a petition to the High Court requesting it to nullify the results.
The Constitutional Court of Malawi nullified the presidential election results citing large-scale vote manipulation including the use of correction fluid on tally sheets.
In the court, President Mutharika’s lawyer admitted that electoral laws were flouted during the polls but said the breaches did not materially prejudice anyone. The lawyer admitted correction fluid was used but said no votes were altered.
A new election has been scheduled for July 2, although it could be delayed by Mutharika’s appeal and the coronavirus outbreak.
