Opposition says Tanzania’s Coronavirus-denying president is being treated in Kenya for COVID-19

Tanzania’s main opposition leader has sought information about the health of President John Magufuli, a COVID-19 skeptic whose absence from public view in recent days led to speculation that he was receiving medical treatment abroad.

There was no official statement on Mr Magufuli’s health. His director Sanchar Gorson Misigwa and government spokesman Hassan Abbas did not respond Reuters Message left seeking comment

The nation A neighboring Kenyan newspaper reported that for nearly two weeks an African leader had not been seen in public, being treated for COVID-19 on a ventilator at Nairobi Hospital, a private hospital in the Kenyan capital.

It cited unknown political and diplomatic sources for the report and did not identify the African leader. Reuters Was not able to independently confirm the report. Both Kenya’s Foreign Ministry and Nairobi Hospital said they had no information to disclose.

Mr Magufuli, the 61-year-old leader of the “bulldozer”, was last seen publicly on 27 February as a new chief secretary at the State House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial capital. He has been out of public view in the past.

“The President’s well-being is a matter of serious public concern. What is it with Magufuli that we do not know? ”, Opposition leader Tundu Lisu said in a tweet late Tuesday that rumors had flown on Tanzania’s social media.

He said, “It is a sad commentary on our nation’s own stipend that it is for this: that he himself received COVID-19 and was sent out to Kenya to prove that the prayer, steam Inhalation and other unintended herbal pregnancies is one that has no protection. Against the coronavirus! ” Added Mr. Lisu without providing evidence.

‘Vaccines are not good’

Mr. Magufuli has downplayed the threat of COVID-19 in Tanzania and scoffed at global terror. He urged Tanzanians to believe in steam-breathing, such as prayer and home remedies, rather than vaccinations, which he said were dangerous and part of a Western conspiracy.

“Vaccines are not good. If they were, white people would have brought vaccines for HIV / AIDS, ”he said earlier this year. Last year he rejected the coronovirus test kit, which he said had yielded positive results on a goat and a crow fruit.

Tanzania stopped reporting coronovirus data in May last year when it said it had 509 cases and 21 deaths, according to data from the World Health Organization, calling on the country to share its information.

Concerning a possible hidden epidemic, top opposition politician from Tanzania’s autonomous Zanzibar Islands, Seif Sharif Hamad, said last month about his party COVID-19.

Even with COVID-19 spreading around Africa, Tanzanians were still allowed to gather, watching sports for example.

Mr Magufuli was first elected in 2015 and defeated Mr Lisu to win re-election last year. He has faced accusations against Western countries and opposition parties for ending democracy, which he denies.

According to a senior medical officer in Tanzania close to the government as a private security officer in Kenya with extensive official contacts in Tanzania, Mr. Magufuli has a history of heart issues.