Kassim Majaliwa said he was surprised that people questioned the president’s whereabouts, adding that the leader was “fine and continuing with his daily activities,” as he said during a Friday prayer session at a mosque in the region. Njombe from the country, according to the state broadcaster Tanzania. Broadcasting Corporation.
Unconfirmed reports have surfaced in the regional media suggesting that the leader was hospitalized at Nairobi Hospital for Covid-19 this week. CNN could not confirm the president’s status.
During the pandemic, Magufuli downplayed his dangers, previously claiming that Tanzania defeated Covid-19 through prayer and insisted that the virus was not a threat to the East African nation. He questioned the safety of Covid-19 foreign vaccines and made no plans to procure vaccines for his country, instead pressing for the use of herbal medicines and steam treatments.
Tanzania did not report Covid-19 figures from April 2020, prompting the World Health Organization to ask Tanzania to publish coronavirus data and step up public health measures. Last month, the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam warned that Covid-19 cases had risen since January.
Cases involving infected Tanzanians traveling abroad stressed the need for “strong action,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on February 20th.
Two people who traveled from Tanzania to the United Kingdom wore variant B.1351 first detected in South Africa, which appears to be more transmissible than other versions of the virus and could steal some of the immune protection provided by antibodies.
“WHO has not yet received any information on what measures Tanzania is taking to respond to the pandemic,” Tedros said. “I renew my call for Tanzania to start reporting Covid-19 cases and share data.”