Coronavirus: John Magufuli declares Tanzania free of Covid-19

John MagufuliImage copyright
AFP

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John Magufuli praised worshippers for now not carrying masks and gloves

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has declared the nation “coronavirus-free” thanks to prayers by residents.

“The corona disease has been eradicated thanks to God,” Mr Magufuli knowledgeable worshippers in a church in the capital, Dodoma.

The World Successfully being Organization (WHO) has expressed wretchedness over the authorities’s strategy on Covid-19.

The authorities has stopped publishing data on the replacement of coronavirus cases in the nation.

On 29 April, the final day real data used to be launched, there were 509 cases, with 21 deaths in Tanzania. Nevertheless, Mr Magufuli mentioned final week that handiest four patients were receiving therapy in a actually great city, Dar es Salaam.

Final month, Tanzania’s authorities brushed aside a US embassy warning that hospitals in Dar es Salaam were “overwhelmed” and that the possibilities of contracting the virus used to be “extraordinarily high”.

Mr Magufuli has assuredly mentioned the effectively being crisis has been exaggerated and urged folk to help services in church buildings and mosques, asserting that prayers “can vanquish” the virus.

What did Magufuli narrate?

“I desire to thank Tanzanians of all faiths. We hold now got been praying and fasting for God to place us from the pandemic that has afflicted our nation and the realm. Nevertheless God has answered us.

“I narrate, and I am certain that many Tanzanians assume, that the corona disease has been eradicated by God,” he knowledgeable worshippers on Sunday in Dodoma.

His remarks were welcomed with applause and celebratory ululation.

Mr Magufuli also counseled the priest and worshippers for now not carrying gloves and masks to offer protection to themselves from the virus.

What else has he mentioned?

He made identical comments final Friday in the course of a lecturers’ convention, declaring “corona is completed”.

“The effectively being minister knowledgeable me that we handiest hold four patients in Dar es Salaam but this would perchance now not finish rumours to the contrary,” he mentioned.

“We should always always level-headed be careful because a lot of these donations to fight coronavirus would be worn to transmit the virus.

“I desire to induce you Tanzanians now to now not accept donations of masks, as a exchange repeat the donors to creep and exhaust them with their other halves and young folk,” he added.

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The Tanzanian president is among several African leaders who hold bought orders for a herbal tonic touted by the president of Madagascar as a treatment for Covid-19. It is unclear if it has been given to patients in Tanzania.

There is no scientific proof that the tonic works and the WHO has urged folk now to now not make exhaust of unproven medication.

Opposition politicians hold criticised Mr Magufuli previously for promoting policies that will most likely most likely hurt the effectively being of Tanzanians.

The head of Tanzania’s scientific affiliation, Elisha Osati, backed the authorities in a fresh BBC interview, asserting that hospitals were working as customary and that the massive majority of coronavirus inpatients were suffering from soft symptoms.

Mr Magufuli has accused the nation’s effectively being officials of exaggerating the coronavirus crisis. He has also ridiculed the strict measures neighbouring countries hold imposed to fight the pandemic.

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