GENEVA,
Switzerland
The head of the World Health Organization urged Tanzania on Sunday to share information on its measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic, saying the authorities there had repeatedly ignored his requests.
President John
Magufuli’s sceptical approach towards COVID-19 has caused alarm among WHO
officials. A government spokesman told Reuters on Feb.12 that Tanzania had
“controlled” the outbreak, but it stopped reporting new coronavirus infections
and deaths in May last year. At the time it had registered 509 cases and 21
deaths.
WHO director-general
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that Tanzanians testing positive for
COVID-19 abroad underscored “the need for Tanzania to take robust action both
to safeguard their own people and protect populations in these countries and
beyond.”
Tedros also repeated a
call he made with Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa head, in late January for
Tanzania to bolster public health measures against COVID-19 and prepare to
distribute vaccines.
He added that since
then he had spoken with several authorities there to no avail.
“This situation remains
very concerning. I renew my call for Tanzania to start reporting COVID-19 cases
and share data,” Tedros said in a statement on WHO’s website.
Tanzania government
spokesman Hassan Abbasi did not respond to a Reuters message seeking comment on
Tedros’ remarks.
In a statement later on
Sunday, Magufuli’s office said the president wanted Tanzanians to follow
measures to protect themselves against coronavirus. However, it also said that:
“Magufuli wants
Tanzanians to ... trust and put God first, given that wearing masks, social
distancing and lockdowns have been seen to be insufficient as countries that
implemented them have lost thousands compared to Tanzania.”
Magufuli attended a
funeral service on Friday for a senior official in his office whose cause of
death was not made public, and declared three days of national prayer.
On Sunday, Magufuli
said Tanzanians should wear only use locally-made face masks, saying
foreign-made ones may be unsafe.
Last Monday, Oman’s
health minister said his country was considering suspending flights from
Tanzania, after 18% of travellers arriving from Tanzania tested positive for
COVID-19.
Thailand reported on
Monday its first case of the highly contagious COVID-19 variant first
identified in South Africa, in a Thai man who arrived from Tanzania. -
Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment