Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania – Esther Mngodo, like other Tanzanians, was relieved to hear this week that government officials are finally urging people in the country to take precautions against coronavirus – and even to wear face masks.
“It’s a good move,” said Mngodo, a 34-year-old resident of Dar es Salaam. “But much more needs to be done to raise public awareness, testing and treatment. Most importantly, we must have a clear strategy to navigate these unprecedented times. ”
In a surprise change of official position on the coronavirus, President John Magufuli said on Sunday that the government had not banned the wearing of masks and encouraged those who wanted to do so.
However, he warned against claiming defective face coverings for sale in the country, suggesting that high coronavirus-related death rates worldwide could be linked to the absorption of such products and arguing that those in rural areas of Tanzania would be less likely to be victims of the virus because they tended not to wear them.
“The government has not banned wearing a mask. But we have to be careful what masks we wear. We will perish. Don’t think we’re loved so much. The economic war is bad, “Magufuli told a congregation at a church service in Dar es Salaam.
“These masks we buy in stores – we kill ourselves,” he argued, before advising Tanzanians to either make the masks themselves or use locally made ones.
Magufuli has long downplayed the severity of COVID-19, urging Tanzanians to pray, use steam inhalation, and embrace local remedies to protect themselves from respiratory illness. Tanzania stopped releasing numbers of infections in April 2020, a few weeks before Magufuli declared the country free of coronavirus in June through divine intervention.
For Mngodo, the recent return could be the result of what appears to be a deadly recurrence of the infection, which has swept the country in recent months.
“It seems that the scale of the problem has reached a point where the government cannot deny the seriousness of the problem,” said Mngodo, a media consultant.
Announcements of deaths often attributed to “current pneumonia” or “breathing problems” have flooded social media.
The deceased include a number of high-ranking individuals, including several university professors, a former central bank governor, the country’s chief secretary and Zanzibar’s first vice president, Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad.
Of these, Hamad was the only person confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus, while sending the results of the COVID-19 test to the media. As for the others, the public has been left to speculate about the causes of their deaths, at a time when the world is still battling the coronavirus pandemic and many ordinary Tanzanians have been affected by its effects.
These circumstances have led religious leaders and other critics, especially on social networks, to put pressure on the government to provide clear and consistent guidance on combating the pandemic, while urging people to take precautions.
A Tanzanian doctor based in the United States, Frank Minja, said that the change of thinking is welcome, if it has been delayed for a long time, and could present an opportunity. “We want to encourage them [the president] let’s go faster in implementing what we know is effective and implement it immediately, “he said.
“I do not want to say that it is too late, because if we say too late, then it means that we may not do anything. And because, by its nature, pandemic attacks in waves, it is never too late to start doing the right thing, ”added Minja, who campaigned on social media to raise awareness about coronavirus.
Dorothy Semu, acting chairman of the opposition party ACT Wazalendo, criticized Magufuli, saying the measures implemented when the virus first entered the country – including physical distancing and the cancellation of major events – should have been maintained. their place.
“I am a politician, but I am also a believer in science,” said Semu. “As leaders responsible for people’s lives, it is important to make decisions based on facts. It’s like when HIV / AIDS was discovered; some people denied his presence and lost many lives. So I expected the president, who is also a scientist, to continue with the measures of the past and we would have saved many lives. ”
Magufuli declared Tanzania “without coronavirus” in June, thanks to prayers from its citizens [File: AP Photo]
The new attitude of Magufuli – a former professor and industrial chemist – towards wearing masks seems to have also led many other public and official officials to suddenly show up and warn people about the dangers of coronavirus and the measures they should take. to take people to protect themselves from the virus.
For example, the agency that runs Dar-es-Salaam high-speed buses on Monday said passengers will not be allowed to board unless they are wearing a mask.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health, led by Dorothy Gwajima, who previously advocated steam inhalation and a vegetable smoothie for COVID-19 treatment, released a statement earlier this week warning people against the virus and urging them to take it. Precautions.
However, he insisted he would not recommend blocking measures.
“As the president said, we won last year and the economy continued to grow until we achieved middle-income economy status and Coronavirus still existed,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We have not established blockades and even now we will not impose blockades because God is on our side.”