President John Magufuli. COUTESY PHOTO.
The president of Tanzania, John Magufuli is calling on citizens for three days of prayer to defeat unnamed “respiratory diseases” amid warnings that the country is seeing a deadly resurgence in infections.
Speaking during a funeral for his chief secretary, John Kijazi, on Friday, the Associated Press reports that President Magufuli told mourners “maybe we have wronged God somewhere.”
He then added: “Let us all repent.”
Last year, the 61-year-old declared the East African nation free of COVID-19, noting that this was achieved with God’s help.
The government has not updated its number of COVID-19 cases since April.
Magufuli this month questioned COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out in various African countries, telling his Health Minister to take caution.
He claimed that if scientists in the west were able to come up with vaccinations, they would have found a shot for AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and cancer by now.
“We managed to defeat these respiratory diseases through prayer last year. I am sure we will do so this year,” he said in the nationally televised event.
Nevertheless, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, later urged Tanzanians to ramp up public health measures.
She said in a statement online that science shows vaccines work, and she encouraged Tanzania to prepare a COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
Dr. Matshidiso said two Tanzanian travellers arriving recently in Britain had tested positive for the 501.V2 variant first detected in South Africa. The UK government has added Tanzania to its “red list” of countries from which entry is barred.
India’s government said this week that one case of the 501.V2 strain had been imported from Tanzania.
According to AP, a local Catholic church, the U.S. Embassy and others openly warned of a resurgence in cases in this country.
News Agencies contributed to this report.
