The Chinese Embassy in Malawi has told its nationals in China not to travel to Malawi until the coronavirus outbreak is controlled.
The travel advice is being issued to Chinese citizens in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
Minister of Health Jappie Mhango on Tuesday also advised Malawians to as much as possible avoid travelling to China and other countries affected by the coronavirus until the outbreak is controlled.
He said Malawi is screening for coronavirus in all travellers arriving in Malawi through international airports.
“We are following up for 14 days all travellers from China, Italy, France, Germany, Iran and South Korea. So far, as of yesterday, 9 March, 2020, we had in total followed up 233 people. 111 people are still under self-isolation or quarantine. No person has been found with the disease,” he said.
He added that the government is collaborating with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in continuously monitoring the outbreak situation in all affected countries in order to guide our response.
Mhango assured Malawians that the Malawi Government and partners are doing everything possible to ensure that Coronavirus is not imported into our country.
Meanwhile, WHO has confirmed the coronavirus as a pandemic since the disease has been spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.
Over 100,000 cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in more than 100 countries across the world.
The virus was first detected in China where 80,754 cases and 3,136 have so far been recorded. On Tuesday, China recorded 19 new cases, the lowest since the outbreak.
