Malawi's new president, Lazarus Chakwera, has called off independence celebrations and further scaled back plans for Monday's formal inauguration.
Both events were due to be marked by a huge jamboree in Lilongwe's football stadium.
On Saturday, the president announced the stadium's capacity would be halved to 20,000 to limit the spread of coronavirus.
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Now the stadium festivities have been cancelled altogether, with the inauguration being moved to a military barracks to be witnessed by only 100 specially-invited guests.
The cancellation will put a dampener on the euphoria generated by the historic opposition triumph in a recent election re-run, after last year's fraudulent polls were overturned.
