Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, Prime Minister of the African nation Eswatini, has reportedly passed away from the coronavirus, which makes him the first head of government to die of COVID-19.

“His Excellency passed on this afternoon while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa,” Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said in a statement on Sunday night (December 13). “May his soul rest in peace.”

Dlamini, who was 52, was hospitalized three weeks ago and revealed on November 15 that he had tested positive for COVID-19. According to BNO News, he was initially asymptomatic but then developed mild symptoms over the next few days and was admitted to the hospital on November 23.

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Masuku said earlier this month that the prime minister was in stable condition and “responding well to treatment” even though he was preparing to be transferred to a hospital in neighboring South Africa.

COVID-19 has so far killed more than 1.6 million people worldwide.

Eswatini, a country with a population of around 1.2 million and known as Swaziland until 2018, has so far reported 6,768 confirmed coronavirus cases and 127 deaths.