Malawi joins other southern African nations in coronavirus lockdown

BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Malawi joined other southern African nations in announcing a three-week lockdown on Tuesday to curb the spread of coronavirus.

"If (we are ) not careful, Malawi could lose up to 50,000 lives from COVID," President Peter Mutharika said at a news conference with Health Minister Jappie Mhango announcing the lockdown lasting from April 18 until May 9.

Mhango said all non-essential businesses and services would cease.

Most southern African countries, including South Africa, Angola and Zimbabwe, have previously announced full or partial lockdowns. On Tuesday, Namibia extended its stay-at-home order by 2-1/2 weeks.

No southern African nations have a significant number of cases yet, except South Africa which has 2,415 so far.

(Reporting Frank Phiri; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Tom Brown)

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