Madagascar on Sunday announced the first death of a patient suffering from the novel coronavirus, nearly two months after it was first detected in the country.

The 57-year-old hospital worker died on Saturday and had underlying diabetes and high blood pressure before he was infected, an official from the anti-coronavirus task team said.

He was a car park attendant at a hospital in the eastern city of Toamasina.

Several African countries have ordered or expressed interest in the purported remedy, which is known as Covid-Organics.

But the World Health Organization has warned against “adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy”.