Tanzania makes COVID-19 U-turn but secrecy persists
A Maasai woman helps her partner to wear a mask a in the correct way to protect her from COVID-19. Copyright: Moses Matofu/Kalu Institute, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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President John Magufuli beats a retreat and urges precautions against the virus
Experts worry that data hoarding could derail efforts to fight it
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Tanzania s COVID-Skeptic President John Bulldozer Magufuli Dies At 61 euroweeklynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from euroweeklynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Reuters Staff
4 Min Read
NAIROBI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - A senior Tanzanian politician died of COVID-19 on Wednesday, his party said, adding to concern about a hidden epidemic running rampant in a country that insists it has no local transmission of the disease.
The president of Tanzania’s semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, announced the death of Zanzibar’s first vice president, Seif Sharif Hamad, on television, without saying the cause.
But Janeth Rite, deputy secretary for ideology and publicity of Hamad’s opposition ACT-Wazalendo party, told Reuters: “He has died of COVID-19.”
A day earlier, the party’s leader, Zitto Kabwe, tweeted: “Denying the truth about the spread of the coronavirus in Tanzania, and therefore not urging the public to take precautions to protect themselves, has led to a lot of people getting sick, hospitals becoming overwhelmed and the elderly and others losing their lives.
Kagwe Takes Action Over Tanzania s Rising Covid-19 Deaths
Kenya s Health CS Mutahi Kagwe (left) and Tanzania s President John Pombe Magufuli (right)
File
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has heightened security measures at entry points and also sent Covid-19 related items to counties located along the border after the number of deaths in neighbouring Tanzania increased.
Speaking to
Kenyans.co.ke on Saturday, February 20, Kagwe said that they had enhanced port health surveillance, increased testing capacity, and sent personal protective equipment (PPEs) to all border counties.
These include Mombasa, Kwale, Migori, Taita Taveta, Kajiado, Busia and Kilifi. Health Director-General, Patrick Amoth added that the counties were directed to heighten checks, tracing, screening and surveillance at the borders.