AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has said that although Tanzania still has a small number of coronavirus patients, there is a large group of people who have come into contact with them currently being tracked down and constantly monitored.
He made the remarks in Dodoma yesterday when he met with China’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Wang Ke, during which he expressed appreciation to the Asian nation for the assistance it extended to Tanzania.
He explained that Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar were getting more cases of the novel virus because they were business centres.
“The country has closed its borders… people entering the coun isolation centres where they stay for 14 days, while receiving all the needed services,” the PM said.
Mr Majaliwa commended Tanzanians in Mainland and Zanzibar for continuing to observe the instructions they were given in order to protect themselves from the novel virus.
“Efforts are underway to prevent new infections, provide education to our citizens and educate them on hand washing and sanitising. We continue to conduct daily assessments of people being tested. We have also banned all meetings, conventions and sports; we have closed all schools and colleges, all these are geared at curbing the spread of the virus,” he explained.
He expressed gratitude to the government of China for the support it offered to Tanzania through provision of drugs and medical supplies.
“You said that there are civil society organisations and business people who are still collecting medical supplies to bring them into the country to help us prevent the infection; we are very grateful.” he said.
Premier Majaliwa said the support offered by the government of China was very crucial to the country as it gains experience in fighting the viral disease.
He also thanked the country for supporting over 500 Tanzanian students studying in China throughout the course of the disease.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Ke presented heartfelt greetings to the Premier from the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr Li Keqiang.
“Our Prime Minister is grateful for the sympathy letter you sent when our country was going through a serious coronavirus pandemic,” she said.
She further explained to Premier Majaliwa that her country was currently free of the new infection cases and that they were now focused on preventing new infections from entering their country.
“In some cities, we have opened factories and started production of goods to revive our economy. This year is very important to us because our country planned it to be the year of zero poverty. Therefore, we are struggling to recover the economic activities affected by this disease,” she elaborated.
Ambassador Ke added that her country had selected some African countries that will be assisted through sharing experiences using video conferencing to help in tackling the virus.
She also affirmed that there are medical supplies for the Government of Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania which are collected by civil society organisations and business people.
“These are on the way, and that of Mainland Tanzania will arrive next week,” she remarked.
