President Félix Tshisekedi announced the measures late on Tuesday in a nationwide televised address.

Mr Tshisekedi said that along with the closure of the country's borders, a ban on travel into and out of the capital to the provinces - including flights, buses and river transport - would be imposed with immediate effect.

The central African country had announced measures last week restricting the movements of its citizens.

So far the DR Congo has reported 45 cases and three deaths from coronavirus.

The country's second largest city, Lubumbashi, started a 48-hour lockdown on Monday after two people tested positive for the virus.

The two people arrived in Lubumbashi on a Congo Airways flight from the capital Kinshasa on Sunday afternoon, according to the province’s governor Jacques Kyabula. A total of 77 people were on that flight.