Burkina Faso on Monday reported its first two coronavirus cases in a local couple who returned from France last month.

Burkinabè Health minister Claudine Lougue told a press conference that the two, a 73-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman, had been quarantined following positive tests for the virus.

A third person who is suspected to have been in direct contact with the couple is also under observation.

Burkina Faso becomes the sixth country in sub-Saharan Africa to record at least one positive case of the virus after Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Togo.

Algeria, Egypt and Morocco have also confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus in North Africa.