Tanzanian President John Magufuli, one of Africa’s most prominent Covid-19 deniers, died after a two-week absence from public life, sparking speculation that he had contracted the disease.
Magufuli’s death was announced on Wednesday by the country’s vice president, Samia Suluhu, who said the president died of heart failure. He was 61 years old.
“The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, the distinguished Dr. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli … [has] he died of a heart problem at the Mzena hospital in Dar es Salaam, where he was receiving treatment, ”she told state broadcaster TBC.
Magufuli had not been seen in public since February 27 and rumors were circulating online that he was ill and possibly disabled because of the illness. Government officials insisted that Magufuli was working normally and that citizens should ignore rumors from outside the country. Last week, the country’s opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, told the BBC that Magafuli was seriously ill at a hospital in Kenya after contracting Covid-19.
The mystery surrounding the president’s whereabouts and condition has generated fear and anxiety in Tanzania. Police have arrested four people in the country since last week for allegedly spreading false information about the health of political leaders.
Magufuli has repeatedly denied that Covid-19 was spreading in the East African country and claimed without evidence that vaccines are dangerous, suggesting that people pray and inhale herbal-infused vapor.
Despite numerous requests from the World Health Organization, Tanzania has not published statistics on cases since May, when it registered 509 infections. There is no known testing program and health officials have been banned from mentioning the virus.
But the death toll of people with respiratory problems has grown, and earlier this month, the U.S. embassy warned of a significant increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in Tanzania since January. Days later, the presidency announced the death of John Kijazi, Magufuli’s chief secretary.
Shortly afterwards, the death of the vice president of the semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, whose political party had previously informed him that he owned Covid-19, was announced.
Critics said Magufuli’s rejection of the Covid-19 threat, as well as his refusal to block the country as others in the region had done, may have contributed to many unknown deaths.
“He has never worn a mask, he has gone to large public meetings without taking the precautions that people are taking around the world,” Lissu told the BBC last week. “This is someone who has repeatedly and publicly destroyed established medicine. He relied on prayers and herbal mixtures of unproven value, ”he said.
Relatives of the victims of Covid-19, health workers and opposition figures blamed Magufuli for potentially thousands of deaths.