Kassim Majaliwa said he was surprised that people were questioning the president’s whereabouts, adding that the leader was “fine and going about his daily business” while speaking during a Friday prayer session at a mosque in the Njombe region of country, according to the state broadcaster Tanzania. Broadcasting Corporation.
Unconfirmed reports appeared in regional media suggesting that the leader had been admitted to Nairobi Hospital for Covid-19 this week. CNN was unable to confirm the president’s status.
During the course of the pandemic, Magufuli minimized its dangers, previously claiming that Tanzania had defeated Covid-19 through prayers and insisting that the virus was not a threat to the East African nation. He questioned the safety of foreign Covid-19 vaccines and made no plans to purchase vaccines for his country, instead he pushed for the use of herbal medicines and steam treatments.
Tanzania has not released Covid-19 numbers since April 2020, which prompted the World Health Organization to call on Tanzania to publish data on the coronavirus and to increase public health measures. Last month, the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam warned that Covid-19 cases have increased since January.
Cases involving infected Tanzanians traveling abroad have emphasized the need for “robust action,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a February 20 statement.
Two people who traveled from Tanzania to the United Kingdom carried the B.1351 variant first detected in South Africa, which appears to be more transmissible than other versions of the virus and which may escape some of the immune protection offered by the antibodies.
“WHO has not yet received any information on what measures Tanzania is taking to respond to the pandemic,” said Tedros. “I renew my call for Tanzania to start reporting Covid-19 cases and sharing data.”