This comes after health authorities from St. Peter's hospital announced the first Covid-19 positive case recorded in the district on Saturday.

The call has been made at an adhock meeting held in the Island district Saturday.

Area Development Committee Chairpersons responsible for the South and North of Likoma Island, Mathews Manyuka and Martin Munkhwamba jointly agreed with other stakeholders that Malawi government together with the and Mota Engil should consider improving marine transport as the district has registered aCovid-19 case.

Mr. Manyuka says there is a need to reduce the number of passengers on the MV Ilala from the initial 450, to ensure social distancing is adhered to.

Meanwhile, Council Chairperson Ernest Guru said negotiations between the Ministry of Transport, Mota Engil and Member of Parliament for the Islands Christopher Ashemes Songwe, are currently underway

Communication Specialist from the Development Communications Trust DCT Bettie Chumbu suggested the need for the islanders to adopt the use of locally made (cloth) facemasks as opposed to the disposable ones saying the latter needs proper disposal methods after use which most people are not following thereby increasing the risk of spreading the virus further.

The committee has since pledged to provide cloth masks to all the islanders by this weekend as well as introduce Coronavirus audio messaging service.

Meanwhile, health experts on the island have asked the islanders to strictly adhere to the preventive measures to stem further spread of the virus as Likoma has registered its first positive case so far.