Madagascar records their first coronavirus death as the deceased battled cancer too

Madagascar lab under scrutiny for giving false positives. FILE

Madagascar could reduce the number of Coronavirus positives after identifying contaminated test kits.


The government identified false positives from the samples tested this month. Out of 60 samples which tested positive, the state retested and found only 5 tested positives.

The Pasteur Institute in Madagascar under siege from the Malagasy government after a number of false positives were obtained in samples submitted for Covid-19 testing.


"The government had the original samples retested, and only five positive cases were found, " an official said.


The Institute, which obtained the samples on 6 May, acknowledged that samples sent to its laboratory for analysis could have been contaminated. It had originally announced that 67 cases were positive.


However, the samples were sent to the Charles Mérieux Center for Infectious Disease, a research centre in Antananarivo, where only five samples came back positive.

Madagascar has recorded first case Coronavirus death. The man who died was suffering from heart problems and cancer.


There is an underlying row on the case. However, the states say the death should be recorded as among the Cancer cases than a Coronavirus case.



" The deceased has been battling cancer. He also had heart problems. He contracted Coronavirus but because of the underlying condition he was not able to go through, " health minister Dr Lalatiana Andriamanarivo said.

Current press conference on clarification of the number of #COVIDー19 cases recently reported by Institut Pasteur de #Madagascar pic.twitter.com/16VibJUXYb

— Institut Pasteur Madagascar🇲🇬 (@pasteurMG) May 15, 2020

" Madagascar got their first case in 22nd March, 56 days with one death. The reality is that the world is not yet ready for Africa, " a Malagasy researcher said.


"That death is not evident that the medication is not working. There treatment for Pneumonia, TB etc but people die. Concentrate on the numbers, they never lie. He had cancer despite contracting the virus, " an official stated.