Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa said the coffin sellers would be relocated to the graveyards if they failed to move.

The traders had opened shops outside the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), where there is a mortuary.

Patients and their relatives are reported to have complained to the local authorities, prompting the ultimatum.

Mayor Sampa was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying the coffins sellers were depressing patients, making it hard for them to recover.

He advised that they had found an alternative location for their shops or be relocated to graveyards.