Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania – Esther Mngodo, like other Tanzanians, was relieved to learn that this week government officials are finally urging the people of the country to take precautions against the coronavirus – and even wear face masks.
“It’s a good move,” said Mngodo, a 34-year-old resident of Dar-es-Salaam. “But much more needs to be done to raise awareness, test and treat the public. Most importantly, we need to have a clear strategy to navigate these unprecedented times. “
In a surprising change in the official position on the coronavirus, President John Magufuli said on Sunday that the government had not banned the wearing of masks and encouraged those who wanted to do so.
However, he cautioned against what he claimed were defective facial covers for sale in the country, suggesting that high coronavirus-related mortality rates worldwide could be related to the uptake of such products and claimed that people in rural Tanzania are less likely to use them. would fall victim to it. the virus because they tended not to carry them.
“The government has not banned the wearing of masks. But we have to be careful what masks we wear. We will perish. Don’t think we love ourselves so much. Economic war is bad, ”Magufuli told a congregation during a church service in Dar-es-Salaam.
“These masks that we buy in the shops – we kill ourselves,” he argued, before advising the Tanzanians to make the masks themselves or use the masks that were locally produced.
Magufuli has long downplayed the seriousness of COVID-19, urging the Tanzanians to pray, use steam inhalation, and embrace local remedies to protect themselves from the respiratory disease. Tanzania stopped releasing infection numbers in April 2020, weeks before Magufuli declared the country coronavirus free in June through divine intervention.
For Mngodo, the recent turnaround could be the result of what appears to be a deadly resurgence of the infection that has swept across the country in recent months.
“It seems that the magnitude of the problem has reached a point where the government cannot deny the seriousness of the problem,” said Mngodo, a media consultant.
Announcements of deaths often attributed to “current pneumonia” or “respiratory problems” have flooded social media.
The dead include a number of high profile individuals, including several university professors, a former central bank governor, the country’s chief secretary and Zanzibar’s first vice president, Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad.
Among them, Hamad was the only person confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus when he sent his COVID-19 test results to the media. As for the others, the public is speculating about the causes of their deaths, at a time when the world is still fighting the coronavirus pandemic and many ordinary Tanzanians have been touched by its effects.
These circumstances have led religious leaders and other critics, particularly on social media, to pressurize the government to provide clear and consistent guidelines for fighting the pandemic, while also urging individuals to take precautions.
A Tanzanian doctor based in the United States, Frank Minja, said the change of mind is welcome, if it should have been long overdue, and could present an opportunity. “We want to encourage [the president] to speed up implementing what we know is effective and implement it right away, ”he said.
‘I don’t want to say it’s too late because if we say too late we might as well do nothing. And because the pandemic attacks naturally happen in waves, it is never too late to do the right thing, ”added Minja, who is campaigning on social media to raise awareness about the coronavirus.
Dorothy Semu, acting chairman of the opposition party ACT Wazalendo, criticized Magufuli, saying that the measures taken when the virus first entered the country – including physical distance and cancellation of major events – should have been maintained.
“I am a politician, but I also believe in science,” said Semu. “As leaders responsible for people’s lives, it is important that we make our decisions based on facts. It’s like when HIV / AIDS was discovered; some people denied its presence and many lives were lost. So I expected that the president, who is also a scientist, would continue with the measures of the past and that we would have saved many lives. “
Magufuli declared Tanzania ‘coronavirus free’ in June, thanks to the prayers of its citizens [File: AP Photo]
Magufuli’s new stance – a former teacher and industrial chemist – on the wearing of masks also seems to have prompted many other public offices and officials to come forward suddenly and warn people of the dangers of the coronavirus and measures individuals should take to protect themselves from the virus.
For example, the agency that operates Dar-es-Salaam’s fast transport buses on Monday said that passengers should not be allowed to board if they are not wearing a mask.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health, led by Dorothy Gwajima, who previously advocated steam inhalation and a vegetable smoothie to treat COVID-19, released a statement earlier this week warning people about the virus and calling on them to take precautions. to take.
However, it insisted it would not recommend lockdown measures.
“As the president said, we won last year and the economy continued to grow until we reached middle-income status and the Coronavirus was still in existence,” the ministry statement said.
“We have not instituted lockdowns, and even now we will not enforce lockdowns because God is on our side.”