According to the King, Tsai Ing-wen sent antiviral medication to help him recover as soon as he heard that he got infected.

“I am grateful to the president of the Republic of China on Taiwan for sending through this medication to treat me,” he said, on the eSwatini government’s official Twitter account twitter.com/EswatiniGovern1.

 Reuters reported the King as saying he had tested positive “for a couple of days” in the first week of January but was now negative.

READ ALSO: Ho central mosque closed to avert brewing violence among Muslims over Chief Imam position

 The news outlet further reported Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou as saying: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is gratified to hear of the eSwatini king’s successful recovery under the joint care of Taiwanese and eSwatini medical staff.”

eSwatini, an absolute monarchy is Taiwan’s only remaining diplomatic ally on the continent, and Taipei has provided large amounts of economic and other aid.

Mswati III said in a speech on Friday that his country could the antivirus that helped him to treat Covid-19 patients in the interim while they await the arrival of vaccines.

Although he didn't mention the name of the antivirus that helped him survive, Reuters report said the king could have been referring to Gilead Sciences Inc’s antiviral drug remdesivir, which was conditionally approved in Europe in July for treating COVID-19 in adults and adolescents with pneumonia requiring oxygen support.

Remdesivir was approved provisionally by Taiwan last year.

eSwatini has recorded almost 17,000 infections of the coronavirus and 644 COVID-19 deaths.

Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini died in a South African hospital in December after testing positive for COVID-19.