Tanzanian President John Magufuli has finally acknowledged the presence of COVID-19 in the country after claiming for months that the disease had been defeated by prayer, reported Bloomberg.
On Sunday, President Magufuli urged citizens of the East African country to wear locally made face masks and take health safety precautions amid fears of COVID-19 spreading rapidly. Over the course of the pandemic, he has remained cautious about foreign-made goods, including COVID-19 vaccines.
The Tanzanian president’s comments came days after the death of one of the country’s highest-profile politicians, Seif Sharif Hamad, the vice president of the semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, whose political party had earlier said he had COVID-19. The president’s chief secretary also died in recent days, though the cause was not revealed.
Last week, Magufuli urged the nation to participate in three days of prayer for unspecified “respiratory” illnesses that had become a challenge in the country. Tanzania has not updated its number of coronavirus infections since April as the president has insisted the country was free from COVID-19. The official number of coronavirus cases remains at only 509.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Tanzanian authorities to take robust action against the coronavirus pandemic.
He said a number of Tanzanians traveling to neighboring countries and beyond have tested positive for the coronavirus.
“This underscores the need for Tanzania to take robust action both to safeguard their own people and protect populations in these countries and beyond,” Tedros said in a statement on Saturday.
He said the situation in the country remains very concerning and renewed his call for Tanzania to start reporting COVID-19 cases and share data.
“I also call on Tanzania to implement the public health measures that we know work in breaking the chains of transmission, and to prepare for vaccination,” the WHO head said.
