“It is with great sadness that we have to share with all our compatriots, that there is an individual, aged 57, who died from Covid-19,” Professor Hanta Vololontiana said on public television of Madagascar.
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
The Indian Ocean Island which has reported 304 cases of the novel coronavirus has no reported any death until May 16.
According to information, the deceased was a car park attendant at a hospital in the eastern city of Toamasina.
Madagascar has hit the headlines over a home-grown herbal concoction that President Andry Rajoelina claims can cure people infected with the virus.
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”.