Zambia's health minister Chitalu Chilufya was arrested on Wednesday and charged with using ill-gotten gains to acquire property, the country's anti-corruption commission said.

Graft investigators honed in on Chilufya, 47, last month after noticing the minister had suddenly amassed a fortune.

"Chilufya... was arrested today and charged with four counts of possession of property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime," commission spokesman Jonathan Siame said in a statement.

"The arrest follows investigations the commission has been conducting against the minister in relation to the above allegations."

Chilufya himself tested positive for Covid-19 last month.