Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika on Tuesday announced that the landlocked country will implement a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has claimed two lives.

In a televised national address, Mutharika said the lockdown will be effective from midnight on Saturday and will end on May 9.

“This lockdown may be extended beyond 9th May as circumstances warrant, he cautioned.

“I would like to urge you to fully comply with the measures because they are for the good of our country.”

So far, 16 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Malawi mainly in the main cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, the special cabinet committee announced on Monday.

Mutharika warned that up to 50,000 lives could be lost if measures were not put in place to spread the of the virus in the southeastern African country.

“Many more countries across the world have lost many lives. All our neighbouring countries have Coronavirus cases and lives are being lost. If we are not careful, Malawi can lose up to 50,000 lives. We need to act more now,” he said.

The head of state said Malawi would require about K150 billion (about $200 million) for the implementation of a national COVID-19 preparedness and response plan.

“Fighting coronavirus is a challenging war for everyone, everywhere. It is also a very expensive war,” he said.

When the first case was declared on April 2, Malawi announced the closure of all schools countrywide and restricted public gatherings to no less than 50 people.

Local government councils across the country also announced measures such as the closure of bars, banning weddings and public gatherings.

The number of new  coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in Malawi  ticked up again as  Minister of Heatth Jappie Mhango on Monday confirmed three new virus pandemic cases.

Confirming the development, minister Mhango, who chairs a Special Cabinet Committee on Covid-19, said  among the new cases include a 22 year-old lady who arrived from Dubai on 17 March 2020 and another one in the same compound.

“I am happy to report that since the  last reported death none has occurred again due to Covid- 19. However, today we have recorded 3 new cases of Covid-19,” said the minister.

Mhango further said the three new cases have been confirmed by College of Medicine Laboratory in Blantyre.

He said all the cases including the ones that were registered earlier are clinically stable with mild symptoms while some have no symptoms.

“We are still collecting more details for the third case,” he said.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 infection in Malawi to 16.

He said the 16 confirmed cases are distributed as follows:

• 6 (including 1 death) in Lilongwe
• 8 (including 1 death) in Blantyre
• 1 case in Chikwawa
• 1 case in Nkhotakota

Health officials have also traced 272 contacts of people who have tested positive to Covid-q9 and tested 75 of them.

Meanwhile, Mhango who did not rule out a nationwide lockdown, said government will announce additional tough measures to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda has thrown out the application for admission of the two South African Lawyers Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza and Elizabeth Makhabani Baloyi-Mere to represent the Malawi Electoral Commission in the presidential elections case appeal.

The two South African lawyers did not arrive in the country due to public health concern. As a result they presented themselves to the Malawian Embassy in South Africa where they wanted to participate in the case through video teleconferencing .

According to Nyirenda it is against the law for lawyers to represent MEC when they are in another country. This means MEC lawyer Tamando Chokotho will represent the electoral body when the appeal case begins on Wednesday.