John Magufuli, the President of Tanzania, has been accused by opposition political parties and critics of covering up the major outbreak of the COVID-19 in Tanzania.
The President has played down the effects of the virus in the country on multiple occasions.
Just last week, he insisted that no form of lockdown or curfew will be implemented in Tanzania to curb the spread of the COVID-19 like other countries in East Africa are doing, instead he asked the Tanzanian residents to fast and pray to God.
The President claimed that his own son also contracted the COVID 19 virus and was cured by just using steam therapy and drinking organic orange juice made of lemon and ginger.
Magufuli said that the government was going to put the economy first because Tanzania cannot afford a lockdown.
The Tanzanian health authorities have refused to release the update for the COVID-19 virus on the country for about a month now, even after the World Health Organisation requested for the update.
The last update given by the country’s health authority was on April 29. The health authorities reported 480 confirmed cases of the virus and 16 deaths in the country.
Opposing political parties have claimed that in the past month alone, over 400 people have died from the COVID-19 in Dar-es-salaam – the country’s capital – alone.
Critics claimed that there are about 16,000 to 20,000 cases of the COVID-19 in Tanzania. They claimed that the ICU units in three major hospitals in Dar-es-salaam are completely full.
So far, Magufuli has ignored advice from the World Health Organisation to promote physical distance in the country and ensure the use of face masks to prevent the spread of the virus.
A few weeks ago, the President even claimed that the COVID-19 test was performed on a goat and papaya and they both tested positive for the virus claiming that the COVID-19 test gives false results.