Malawi has recorded 77 new COVID-19 cases and 11 new recoveries, taking the number of recorded cases to 1,342  and the number of recoveries to 271.

Chairperson of the Presidential Taskforce on Coronavirus John Phuka announced the new cases on Wednesday.

Out the new cases, 58 are contacts of confirmed cases, 18 are under investigation and one is imported

On the locally transmitted infections, Phuka said 37 are from Lilongwe, eight from Zomba, eight from Blantyre (one healthcare worker), three from Rumphi and one each from Mangochi and Neno (both are health care workers).

“Sixteen of the cases under investigation are from Blantyre and one each from Lilongwe and Machinga. The imported case is from Blantyre and was identified through routine screening at Mwanza border,” said Phuka.

Malawi has so far recorded a total of 1,342 cases including 16 deaths. Of these cases, 640 are imported infections and 639 are locally transmitted while 63 are still under investigation.

Cumulatively, 271 cases have now recovered bringing the total number of active cases to 1055.

The average age of the cases is 33.9 years, the youngest case is aged 1 month, the oldest is 78 years and 69% are male. The country has so far conducted 14,683 COVID-19 tests in 39 COVID-19 testing sites.