Tanzanian President now wants citizens to wear face nasks

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Tanzanian President now wants citizens to wear face nasks

9:07 CAT | 23 Feb 2021

FILE – In this July 11, 2020 file photo, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli speaks at the national congress of his ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in Dodoma, Tanzania. Tanzania’s president John Magufuli is finally acknowledging Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021 that his country has a coronavirus problem after claiming for months that the disease had been defeated by prayer, urging citizens to take precautions and even wear face masks – but only locally made ones. [File photo: AP ]

President John Magufuli is asking Tanzanians to put on face masks as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus after months of discouraging their use.

Citizens should only to wear masks manufactured in the East African nation, Magufuli said in an emailed statement. Those imported from other counties are not safe, he said.

The turnaround comes three days after the death of Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad, the first vice president of Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar. He had succumbed to the coronavirus.

Magufuli has declared the East African nation free of Covid-19 while shunning lockdowns, discouraging face masks and banning the release of virus data since April.

By Bella Genga

Source: Bloomberg