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Wednesday, April 29, 2020

TANZANIA COVID-19 CASES SHOOT TO 480 AS OPPOSITION CALL FOR INCLUSIVE INTERVENTION

Osoro Nyawangah, Dodoma TANZANIA

The number of COVID-19 cases in Tanzania has today jumped to 480 after 196 people tested positive of the novel coronavirus as opposition leaders call for government to give true data and take advised measures to slow the impact of coronavirus.
Tanzania Prime Minister  Kassim Majaliwa (L), officiating handover of 10 new ambullaces donated by government through Global Fund to some hospitals in the country while Minister for Health, Ummy Mwalimu (C), looks on.
The figures include 22 of those announced by the Zanzibar Minister of Health, Hamad Rashid yesterday making Tanzania most infected country in East Africa.

Making the announcement the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, said the country had also registered six more deaths bringing the number of fatalities to 16 since the virus was first recorded in Tanzania in March this year.

Prime Minister said that of the 196 new cases 174 are from Tanzania Mainland whereas 22 are from Zanzibar.

Without elaborating on the regions of the new patients or deaths, Majaliwa said that the numbers of those who have recovered from the virus now stood at 167 from 48, out of those who have healed 36 are from Zanzibar whereas 83 are from Mainland Tanzania.

He called on the general public to stop disseminating false information on the deaths because not every death has to be related to coronavirus.

Talking in an online television later today, the leader of opposition party (CHADEMA), Freeman Mbowe called for inclusive intervention; urging the government to give true data on the new cases, deaths and enforce scientific measures to fight COVID-19
Leader of opposition party (CHADEMA),
Freeman Mbowe

He said the data given by Tanzania government are cooked and do not reflect the reality at the community. “We know how mortuaries are full of dead bodies, we see how the government is participating in burying the dead at night and deny the relatives to participate. We know, so let the government come forward and tell us and the WHO the truth” He said.

Mbowe who is the leader of opposition in the Parliament urge the government to request assistance from other developed countries and United Nations institutions to help the country from mass deaths that the country is facing in a near future.

"It is high degree of stupidity for a country to think that it can fight COVID-19 its own way through economic, scientific, cultural, religious based or through sorcery." He warned adding that the pandemic has killed hundreds of people in developed countries that could not be compared with Tanzania.

He said that at this juncture, where the government of Tanzania declined to carryout mass testing, it cannot control the community-based widespread of coronavirus and deaths without support from World Health Organization or developed countries.

“We need immediate support for personal protective equipments (PPE), testing and other hospitalised equipments to fight the novel coronavirus; we are exposing our health practitioners to danger by providing limited protective gears.” Mbowe stressed.

He asked the President of Tanzania, John Magufuli, to rethink of his strategies in fighting COVID-19 by including opposition leaders, faith based leaders and communicate with other presidents to gain experience from those countries.

The opposition leader warned that coronavirus is real and is in the community and that every person has obligation to take proper protective measures as advised by health experts.

Last week, President Magufuli ruled out the lock-down of commercial city of Dar es Salaam, citing that the city is the only centre where the government collect almost 80 per cent of the country’s revenue.

Magufuli also urged medical authorities to promote the use of natural remedies to fight the disease, shunting science aside and discourage use of imported face masks for risk of contamination.

The country has not taken into account the scientific measures like total or partial lock-down of the cities, towns, churches, mosques and cross-border cargo trucks’ movements.  - Africa

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