DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
The Catholic Church in Tanzania has said that more than 25 priests, 60 sisters and two elders of the laity have died within two months of various causes including respiratory challenges.
The General Secretary of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference
(TEC), Father Charles Kitima (pictured above) has disclosed the news in Dar es Salaam city on
Wednesday March 3.
The TEC is a permanent assembly of the Bishops in Tanzania.
Father Kitima made the remarks while addressing the press
on various issues, especially the Covid-19 epidemic, urging church members to
continue taking precautions against the disease in accordance with health
ministry guidelines.
In a statement, Kitima, who served as Vice Chancellor of
St. Augustine University, said the deaths occurred from mid-December to February this year in different parts of the country.
"Please continue taking precautions against this
disease by following the instructions of the Ministry of Health. Priests are
dying and sisters are dying but this number within two months has shocked us
especially considering the government has strengthened better health
systems," said Kitima.
He said TEC President Gervas Nyaisonga had already
distributed guidelines to bishops of various dioceses on measures to protect
themselves against Covid-19 while providing pastoral services.
In the statement addressed to archbishops
and retired bishops early January this year, Bishop Nyaisonga, said the
measures put in place to control the spread of coronavirus last year showed signs
of being successful.
The letter headlined ‘Caution against new
coronavirus and Covid-19 infections’ said after successfully containing the
spread of the virus last year, Tanzania was now facing a new wave of the virus
spread.
“For last year, infections dropped and we
believed that we had won the war against Covid-19,” the letter read, noting
that currently, a number of countries have reported new infections which have
resulted into deaths of people in their countries.
“Our country is not an island. We have
every reason to take precautions and pray to God so that we can move unscathed
in this pandemic,” the letter read.
He said it was about time the church
instructed its followers to make use of all available means to protect
themselves against the virus, including prayers, social distancing, hand
washing and sanitizing time after time.
Last February, the President of Tanzania, John Magufuli, urged its citizens to take preventive measures against the coronavirus after downplaying the disease for months and claiming it had been defeated by prayers.
Speaking during a Sunday church mass in the capital city Dodoma,
Magufuli urged citizens of the East African country to take precautions and
wear face masks; but only locally made ones.
Over the course of the pandemic, Magufuli
has expressed wariness about foreign-made goods, including covid-19 vaccines.
A few hours later, the health ministry
issued a statement also calling on people to wear face masks and wash their
hands to prevent covid-19 infections.
The president’s comments came a day after the World Health
Organization’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Tanzania to take “robust action”
to tackle the outbreak in the country as “the situation remains very
concerning”.
The call for action came after a number of Tanzanians
travelling to neighbouring countries and beyond tested positive for the
coronavirus, according to a statement issued by the WHO.
Others recently expressing concern include the United
States and the local Catholic church.
The country of 60 million people mourned
the death of one of its highest-profile politicians, the Vice President of the
semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, Seif Shariff Hamad, whose infection
with covid-19 had been announced by his political party.
Magufuli’s Chief Secretary also died in
recent days, though the cause was not revealed. - Africa
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