In the past 48 hours, Malawi has registered 26 new COVID-19 cases, 10 new recoveries, and no new deaths, officials say.

Of the new cases, nine were identified at Kamuzu International Airport as they were returning from Kuwait.

Of these nine, six are residents of Lilongwe, two are from Blantyre and one is from Mzuzu.

Lilongwe has registered five more new cases, of which four are contacts of two different confirmed cases and one is still being investigated to establish the source of infection.

Blantyre has also registered five more cases, two are health care workers, one is a contact to a confirmed case and two are still being investigated.

Salima has registered four cases, the first reporting from district and are all associated with travel. Mzuzu, Thyolo and Zomba have registered one new case each.

Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 481 cases including 4 deaths. Of these cases, 382 are imported infections and 86 are locally transmitted while 13 are still under investigation.

Sixty-five of the total cases have now recovered bringing the total number of active cases to 412.

Some cases are consistently testing positive after 14 days of diagnosis and they are being monitored closely.

The average age of the cases is 31 years, the youngest case is aged 1 year, the oldest is 75 years and 66% are

male.