Tanzanian President John Magufuli has urged the people to pray to god for the next three days in order to defeat unnamed “respiratory diseases” amid warnings that the country is seeing a deadly resurgence in COVID-19 infections, reported Africa News.
“Maybe we have wronged God somewhere,” the Tanzanian president told mourners at a funeral for his chief secretary, John Kijazi, on Friday. “Let us all repent.”
Kijazi died while receiving treatment at the Benjamin Mkapa Hospital, according to a statement released by the president’s office.
Magufuli continues to deny the existence of Covid-19 in the country though doctors have frequently reported several cases of patients with breathing problems.
He has repeatedly claimed that Tanzania, a country of some 60 million people, defeated the deadly virus with God’s help. The government has not updated its number of coronavirus cases since April. The Tanzanian health ministry has long been promoting unproven herbal remedies to treat the virus.
Magufuli has even questioned the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines without offering any evidence. The Tanzanian President John Magufuli even warned the country’s health ministry against rushing into embracing the Covid-19 vaccines promoted by foreign companies and countries.
But the local Catholic church, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Embassy, and others have openly warned of a resurgence in cases. The recent death of the vice president of the semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, Seif Sharif Hamad, brought widespread attention after his opposition political party said he had COVID-19.
On Thursday, John Nkengasong, the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters that Hamad’s death is a clear symbol that the pandemic is raging.
Speaking about the deaths of Hamad and Kijazi, Tanzania’s president asked the country to remain calm.
“We managed to defeat these respiratory diseases through prayer last year,” he said in a televised address. “I am sure we will do so this year.”
Magufuli also announced that Finance Minister Philip Mpango had been admitted to a hospital in the capital, Dodoma. However, he did not say why.
