Tanzania now free of COVID-19 –President Magufuli

The President of Tanzania John Magufuli has declared the country “coronavirus-free” thanks to prayers by citizens.

“The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Mr Magufuli told worshippers in a church in the capital, Dodoma on Monday

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the government’s strategy on Covid-19 as it stopped publishing data on the number of coronavirus cases in the country.

On 29 April, the last day official data was released; there were 509 cases, with 21 deaths in Tanzania. However, Mr Magufuli said last week that only four patients were receiving treatment in the largest city, Dar es Salaam.

READ ALSO: Tanzanian President suspicious after samples from goats, fruits tested positive for COVID-19

Mr Magufuli has repeatedly said the health crisis has been exaggerated and urged people to attend services in churches and mosques, saying that prayers “can vanquish” the virus.

This came after New Zealand announced that it is free from the deadly COVID-19 virus as it no longer has any active cases of the disease with the last case reported on May 22 after the outbreak of the pandemic.

This was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who said that New Zealand will lift its last remaining restrictions to curb the coronavirus at midnight (12:00 GMT) when the country will return to Level 1 on its four level systems of alerts.

Ardern said New Zealand had introduced a strict lockdown 75 days ago with the aim of getting to a level “where life feels as normal as it can in the midst of a global pandemic. Today, I can announce that the cabinet has agreed we can now move to Level 1.”

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