Naaju Breaking News, Live Updates, Latest Headlines, Viral News, Top Stories, Trending Topics, Videos
[ad_1]
A week after Peter (not his real name) came home from work with a dry cough and no sense of taste, he was rushed to hospital. He died within hours.
He had not been tested for covid. And according to the Tanzanian government, which has not released data on the coronavirus for months, the country is “free of covid-19”.
In this East African country, there is little evidence and no vaccination program is planned.
It is almost impossible to calculate the true extent of the virus and only a small number of people can officially speak out on the matter.
But recent public statements hint at a different reality than that presented by the government, at a time when some citizens, like Peter’s wife, silently mourn the deaths of family members suspected of having had the virus.
Several Tanzanian families have had similar experiences but have chosen not to speak out for fear of reprisals from the government.
Meanwhile, the UK government has banned all travelers from Tanzania from entering the country, and the US has warned against travel to the country due to the coronavirus.
A campaign of denial
Since June last year, when President John Magufuli declared the country “free from COVID-19,” he and other senior government officials have laughed at the effectiveness of the masks, wondering if the tests testing was working and mocked neighboring countries, which imposed health measures to curb the virus.
Magufuli also warned, without providing any evidence, that COVID-19 vaccines could be harmful and instead urged Tanzanians to use steam inhalation and herbal medicines, none of which have been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a treatment.
President Magufuli is skeptical of the coronavirus and vaccines.
It is not known why the president expressed such skepticism about vaccines, but he recently said Tanzanians should not be used as “guinea pigs”.
“If the white man could invent vaccines, he should have already found a vaccine against AIDS, cancer and tuberculosis,” said Magufuli, who often presents himself as an opponent of Western imperialism.
WHO disagrees
“The vaccines are working and I encourage the government [de Tanzania] to prepare for a covid vaccination campaign, ”said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Director for Africa.
The doctor added that the organization is ready to support the country.
Authorities are telling Tanzanians, without providing evidence, that the steam is helping protect them against the coronavirus.
But Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima reiterated Magufuli’s stance on vaccines, adding that the ministry has “its own procedure on how to receive the drugs, and we do it after we are satisfied with the product.”
He made the comments at a press conference this week where an official demonstrated how to make a smoothie with ginger, onions, lemons and pepper; a drink that would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, they said without providing any evidence.
“We need to improve our personal hygiene, wash our hands with soap and running water, use tissues, herbal steam, exercise, eat nutritious food, drink plenty of water. and [usar] natural remedies that our nation is endowed with, ”Gwajima insisted.
But that, he said, not because the virus is in the country. Tanzanians must be prepared as the virus is “ravaging” neighboring countries, he noted.
Skepticism
Some doctors across the country are skeptical of the government’s position.
“The problem here is that the government is telling Tanzanians that the vegetable mix, which has nutritional benefits, is all they need to keep the coronavirus at bay, but it isn’t,” said the one of them on the BBC. A local doctor who spoke anonymously, adding that people should take precautions against the virus.
But Dr Gwajima, the president and three other senior officials are the only ones who can provide information on COVID-19 in the country, according to a Magufuli directive.
In an unprecedented move, however, leaders of the country’s Catholic Church recently broke their silence and warned the public to comply with health measures to curb the spread of the virus.
“The covid is not over, it’s here. Let’s not be reckless, we have to protect ourselves, wash our hands with soap and water. We also have to wear masks again,” said Yuda Thadei Ruwaichi, bishop of Dar es Salaam, the most populous city in Tanzania.
Tanzania Bishops’ Conference secretary Charles Kitima told the BBC the church has seen an increase in funeral services in urban areas.
Authorities encourage hand washing and a healthy lifestyle to prevent coronavirus infections, but deny there are any infections in the country.
“We used to have one or two Requiem Masses a week in urban parishes, but now we have daily ceremonies. Something is really wrong, ”he says.
The Minister of Health has said these statements are alarmist. The lack of official data makes it difficult to hold an informed public debate.
“Wear masks – and not just because of the coronavirus”
However, the Tanzanian government is not completely denying the coronavirus. There were times when he even seemed to recognize that the virus could exist in the country.
In January, days after Denmark reported that two of its citizens who had visited Tanzania had tested positive for South Africa’s most transmissible variant of the virus, Magufuli accused Tanzanians traveling abroad of having “imported a strange new coronavirus”.
Mabula Mchembe (right), of the health ministry, said patients across the country with respiratory problems do not have covid-19.
After visiting two hospitals, Mabula Mchembe, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, said patients with respiratory problems suffered from hypertension, kidney failure or asthma, rather than coronavirus.
But a later statement on the Ministry of Health’s Twitter account that “not all patients admitted to hospital have coronavirus,” suggested there were some at the time who had the virus.
On Friday, it was reported on the Mwananchi news site that Mchembe was encouraging people to wear face masks “not for the coronavirus, as some believe, but to prevent respiratory disease.”
But one fact that has complicated the government’s position is the public announcement by the opposition ACT Wazalendo party that one of its senior officials, Seif Sharif Hamad, and his wife have tested positive for the virus.
The government has not made any public comment on Hamad’s condition, nor has it responded to repeated requests for comment from the BBC for the story.
Tanzanian opposition leader Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad (left) waves in Zanzbar, Tanzania, March 3, 2020.
On January 21, the day Peter started to feel ill, a local report had a huge impact across the country.
Administrators at a well-known international school retracted a statement in which they announced they would not be offering more physical classes to any of their groups because a student tested positive for coronavirus.
The retraction came after management met with government officials in the region, the Citizen news site reported.
The school said it regretted the “circulation of false information” and would continue to operate normally.
This feeling of going forward as if nothing had happened is what the government has encouraged, but Peter’s wife laments that, like so many other Tanzanians, she and her late husband did have not taken precautions to protect themselves.
His lack of caution is not surprising, given that the president and other senior government officials have continually stressed that there is “no coronavirus” in the country.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
