Tanzania's first Covid-19 patient has recovered and will soon be discharged from hospital, The East African reported, citing health minister Ummy Mwalimu.

“I am happy to announce our first patient for Covid-19 has tested negative in all three tests taken...we are now on final stages for her discharge,” Mwalimu said on Thursday.

According to the Daily Monitor, the 46-year-old woman had tested positive after returning from Belgium on March 15 aboard a RwandAir plane.

She was screened on arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport in the northern town of Arusha but did not exhibit Covid-19 symptoms until later when she fell ill while in her hotel room.

On her Twitter account Mwalimu said the number of coronavirus patients in the country had reached 13, eight of them being Tanzanians while five were foreign nationals.

"Eight patients are in D'Salaam (Dar es Salaam), two in Arusha, two in Zanzibar and one in Kagera. 12 patients travelled overseas and  one did not travel abroad." she posted.

"The task ahead of us is to remove stigma and discrimination against people infected with (Covid-19) and their families."