WHO URGES TANZANIA TO RELEASE DATA AS PRESIDENT CALLS FOR THREE-DAY PRAYERS, NO LOCKDOWN

Sun 21 February 2021:

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on Tanzanian authorities to release COVID-19 data and implement public health measures to break the chain of transmission of the deadly virus.

Magufuli has long downplayed the seriousness of COVID-19, which has killed more than 2.1 million people worldwide. He has previously questioned the efficacy of imported COVID tests and urged people to pray to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

A statement by WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus late Saturday said Tanzania has not yet released information on measures it is taking to respond to the pandemic.

“The situation remains very concerning. I renew my call for Tanzania to start reporting Covid-19 cases and share data,” the statement said.

The East African country, which last released data on COVID-19 cases and deaths back in May 2020, when President John Magufuli questioned the efficacy of imported testing kits, has shunned conventional medicines and has been touting the use of herbal concoctions to fight the virus.

Magufuli, who has also shunned mask-wearing and social distancing, has been under fire for promoting wild conspiracy theories that contradict the global scientific consensus on the best approach to curb the disease.

Against Vaccination

“Vaccinations are dangerous. If white people were able to come up with vaccinations, a vaccination for AIDS would have been found, a vaccination for tuberculosis could have eliminated it by now; a Malaria vaccine would have been found; a vaccination for cancer would have been found by now,” Magufuli said in a speech on Wednesday in his hometown of Chato, northwest Tanzania.

He also urged the health ministry to be cautious with vaccines developed abroad.

Warning

Tanzania Catholic Church issued an alert over a surge in suspected COVID-19 infections in the country. In a letter addressed to church leaders, the president of the episcopal conference (TEC) warned of a possible new wave of infections.

The TEC Secretary Father Charles Kitima told the media that the Catholic Church had noticed an unusually sharp increase in the number of funeral services being held. He said that usually, there would be one or two requiem masses per week in urban parishes, but that now they were conducting the masses daily.

Let’s Pray

On Friday Magufuli has said there will be no lockdown and asked Tanzanians to pray for three days starting Friday.

“Today for the Muslims who have already begun, tomorrow the Seventh Day Adventists who pray on Saturdays and on Sunday for Christians,” he said.

Addressing mourners on Friday in Dar es Salaam at the requiem mass for Chief Secretary Ambassador John Kijazi who died on Wednesday, the president said “God has never forsaken this nation. We won last year and graduated to middle-income status amid coronavirus, and projects implementation went on without imposing a lockdown and we will never impose lockdown.”

“Let’s pray and fast for three days I am sure we will win. May I ask religious leaders just as you have been doing, keep insisting in prayers. We will win. We won last year we will win this year and years to come.”

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