President Samia Suluhu Hassan
DAR ES SALAAM, April 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has said that she intends to form a committee of experts to professionally evaluate the COVID-19 pandemic so as to advise the government on the way forward.
“On the issue of COVID-19, I think I should form a Committee of experts to look at it professionally and then advise the Government, it should not be silenced or rejected or accepted without professional research,” she said.
She added: We cannot isolate ourselves as if we are an Island but also we cannot accept everything brought to us, we cannot continue just reading about COVID-19 Worldwide, yet Tanzania is all blank, it is incomprehensible
According to her, Tanzania needs to have a clear and understandable position regarding the pandemic so that it can make informed decisions.
In view of that she said, Tanzania cannot rely on outside reports on the state of the pandemic while it has none.
“Tanzania needs to have its own understanding of where we stand on the issue of COVID-19,” she stressed.
Tanzania last released data on COVID-19 almost a year ago with data then showing that Tanzania only had 509 cases.
Since then government adopted the approach that Tanzania was free from CoOVID-19 with authorities encouraging local remedies such as the steam therapy.
The government under her predecessor also said Tanzania would not procure vaccines despite the insistence of the WHO that the jab was necessary to curb the spread of the virus.
Samia’s predecessor, late President John Magufuli declared that the east African country had no Covid-19.
Samia was Magufuli’s deputy. She was sworn-in as President after Magufuli’s death in March.
Tanzania did not require people to wear masks or practice social distancing. There were no restrictions on gatherings or movements either.
But after pressure from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the country acknowledged in February that it was dealing with cases of the disease. — NNN-AGENCIES