Covid cases surging in Tanzania, says US embassy as government downplays virus
Tanzania has not reported Covid-19 cases or deaths since late April. The US embassy warned that healthcare services may very well be swamped and that poor hospital capability may “result in life-threatening delays for emergency medical care.”
President John Magufuli, who was reelected in a disputed October 2020 election, has repeatedly downplayed the virus and beneficial outlandish cures.
Magufuli has additionally refused to accumulate vaccines for the inhabitants of 58 million, saying they’re “dangerous” and “not good for us.”
“There are some of our fellow Tanzanians who recently did travel abroad in search of corona vaccines, they are the ones who brought back corona in our country after returning,” Magufuli mentioned at an occasion on January 27. “My fellow Tanzanians, let us stand firm, some of these vaccines are not good for us.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) urged officers in Tanzania earlier this month to comply with science in the struggle in opposition to Covid-19.
During a information convention on February 1, Tanzania’s Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima did not say when the nation will begin receiving vaccines however as a substitute reiterated the government’s urged hygiene practices, which embody consuming loads of water and taking native herbs, which the government claims, with out proof, can fight the virus.
The chief of one of many largest political events in Tanzania, the Alliance for Change and Transparency, has spoken out in opposition to the government’s Covid-19 denial in latest weeks.
“Tanzania’s neighbours need to understand that as long as Tanzania refuses to be a responsible partner in this battle against Covid-19, the entire region remains vulnerable!” Zitto Kabwe mentioned in a tweet on Wednesday.
Two individuals who traveled from Tanzania to the UK had been carrying the B.1351 variant first detected in South Africa.
CNN’s Radina Gigova contributed to this report.
