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Eswatini’s prime minister, who tested positive for COVID-19, dies

Eswatini’s prime minister, who tested positive for COVID-19, dies
Ambrose Mandulo Dlamini, Swaziland's prime minister. (Photo: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who tested positive for COVID-19 four weeks ago, has died at age 52 after being hospitalised in neighbouring South Africa, the tiny absolute monarchy's government said late on Sunday.

“Their Majesties have commanded that I inform the Nation of the sad and untimely passing away of His Excellency the Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini. His Excellency passed on this afternoon while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa”, Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said in a statement.

Dlamini was moved to South Africa on Dec.1, to “guide and fast track his recovery,” from COVID-19. At that time, Masuku said Dlamini was stable and responding well to treatment.

Dlamini was appointed prime minister in November 2018, following his position as the chief executive officer of MTN Eswatini. He had worked in the banking industry for more than 18 years, including being managing director of Eswatini Nedbank Limited.

The southern African nation of around 1.2 million people has so far recorded 6,768 positive cases of the highly infectious respiratory disease, with 127 confirmed deaths, according to the health ministry. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg, and Lunga Masuku in Mbabane; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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"Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email [email protected]"

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