THE government, through the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) and the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, has outlined measures it is instituting in preventing coronavirus, including testing all international flight passengers at all major airports.
Speaking during a joint press conference in Dar es Salaam on Friday, officials from Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) and the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children insisted that the measures being instituted, do not, in any way, aim at banning international travellers from entering the country, but to prevent the disease from crossing the country’s borders.
“Coronavirus has gone a step further from being transmitted from animal to human, to human to human. International flight passengers can easily carry the virus from continent to continent or one country to another,” said Mr Hamza Johari, the TCCA Director General, adding: “We would like to inform Tanzanians and the international community that the measures we are implementing in do not intend to bar foreigners from entering Tanzania.”
Mr Johari said as part of the measures, health officers who are skilled in emergency preparedness to identify and deal with symptoms related to coronavirus infections, will be stationed at Julius Nyerere International Airport, Kilimanjaro International Airport, Mwanza International airport and Zanzibar airport.
He said the international airlines were also involved in implementing the preventive measures, cognisant with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) charter that requires them to take part in preventing outbreaks.
For his part, the Assistant Director of Environmental Health from the Health ministry, Dr Khalid Massa, said isolation centres were set up in all districts, including border posts, to keep individuals who might show early symptoms of the disease.
“Considering that our country shares borders with eight other countries, we have established centres at each of them to handle suspected individuals from neighbouring countries travelling by other means of transport,” Dr Massa said.
He added that travellers who may be tested and found with fever surpassing 38 centigrade of the body temperature will be subjected to 14 days quarantine which is the period for establishing if a person has been infected with the virus or not.
Dr Massa also called on the general public to report any coronavirus suspicious cases in their areas of residence by reporting them to the nearby health centres or calling a toll free telephone number, 080011124 or 0800110125.
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Tanzania has said it is still issuing visas for individuals wishing to travel to the second largest economy in the world.
However, the embassy has been reminding visas applicants to postpone their trips to China or confirm the situation with their hosts in China before the trip.
Explaining on procedures put in place for Chinese immigrants and travellers to ensure the safety of Tanzanians and Chinese themselves, the embassy said Chinese Immigration Authority has issued travel advice to all Chinese citizens to cancel all non-essential trips abroad.
The Embassy together with the Chinese community in Tanzania have also taken some other measures to help stop the Coronavirus spread, which include advising through website and Apps all the Chinese nationals in Tanzania to closely monitor their own health, registering all Chinese who arrive in Tanzania and urging them to make self-quarantines for 14 days.
“If anyone experiences acute symptoms of Coronavirus like fever, coughing, respiratory difficulty or fatigue, it is suggested to seek medical attention immediately and contact the Embassy for assistance,” the embassy said.
The Chinese Chambers and Associations in Tanzania have jointly issued a statement requesting the Chinese community in Tanzania to take all precautionary measures necessary to reduce the risk of the virus spread, including rescheduling trips back to China and cancelling social gatherings.
Other measures include reminding all Chinese entering Tanzania at the airport to comply and cooperate with the medical checkup measures taken by the authority of Tanzania.
