COTONOU, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Benin recorded its first death case of COVID-19 on Sunday, Benin's health minister Benjamin Hounkpatin announced on Monday.

Speaking during a press conference on the situation of the pandemic, Hounkpatin declared that this first death due to the coronavirus was a 43-year-old woman suffering from sickle cell disease, who returned from a country affected by the COVID-19 and had stayed for several days in a private clinic in Cotonou, economic capital of the country.

The minister also announced that Benin registered a total of 22 confirmed cases, in which 16 are under treatment and five have been cured.

Benin has reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 16.