After the demise of some key government officials due to COVID-19, WHO has asked the Tanzania government to roll out data. Tanzania has refused to give accurate figures about COVID-19 since last year.
WHO asks for more transparency from Tanzania
WHO has pleaded with the Tanzania government to start reporting cases related to the COVID-19 for data purposes. Tanzania in conjunction with a few countries has failed to publish public data about its coronavirus numbers. The last time a case was reported on the country was last April; where about 550 cases were seen with 29 casualties.
After that declaration, President John Magufuli said the country was full » COVID-19 free ». However, medical experts have said the country is not being truthful and that cases are not fully reported. There are also concerns in the international community of a hidden epidemic that may spread across neighboring nations. Last week deaths of some top government officials have jolted many with WHO pleading with the African country to come out clean.
Key government officials death serves as a reminder
The recent death of seif Sharif Hamad who is the deputy president of Zanzibar has turned the spotlight on Tanzania. Sources close to the death of the deputy president have said he has symptoms related to COVID-19 before his demise. Also, the head of the public service John Kijazi died on Thursday, however, no reason was associated with his death.
The director of WHO Adhanom Ghebreyeus stated
» We offer our condolences to the entire people of Tanzania about the death of the leaders, we are also pleading with the government to make its COVID-19 report more transparent ».
He said while the country continues to deny the presence of COVID-19, their citizens traveling out have tested for the virus. He said the commission was willing to help the country anytime. Although Africa has not witnessed huge deaths from COVID-19 unlike Europe, cases have continued to rise.