The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Lesotho on 13 May 2020.
Until May 2020, Lesotho was the last country in Africa to have no reported coronavirus disease 2019 cases during the global pandemic.
The country did not have the ability to test for the virus, and so, in order to prevent the spread of the virus the government closed its border with South Africa.
On 18 March, the government declared a national emergency despite having no confirmed cases, and closed schools until 17 April (but allowed school meals to continue).
Arriving travelers were to be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival. Prime Minister Thomas Thabane announced a three-week lock down from midnight 29 March.
Lesotho began sending its samples to South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases for testing. Lesotho began lifting some aspects of the lockdown on 5 May.