AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE number of coronavirus patients in Tanzania has continued to decline with most quarantine centres remaining empty, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has announced.
Speaking during Eid el fitr prayers at Gaddafi Mosque in Dodoma, Mr Majaliwa said as of yesterday morning, there were only three patients in Dar es Salaam, 16 in Kibaha, while Makonze Centre in Dodoma remained with only three.
According to him, Dar es Salaam based centres of Mloganzila, Amana and Aga Khan each has a patient, while Kairuki, Rabinisia, Regency and Temeke Hospitals have none.
Despite the achievement, the Premier noted that it was better for Tanzanians to continue observing all preventive measures against the scourge as suggested by health experts.
“Let’s continue using face masks, washing our hands regularly with water using soap or sanitisers, and as well as maintaining social distancing,” he pointed out.
Equally, Mr Majaliwa asked Tanzanians to continue with their routine activities without violating laws of the land and as well pray for the virus to end permanently in the country.
As part of improving efforts on fighting Covid-19, the government is using new National Public Health Laboratory at Mabibo area in Ubungo Municipality, Dar es Salaam.
The facility has the capacity to test 1,800 coronavirus samples in 24 hours in comparison to the previous one that could only handle 300 tests a day.
According to the Prime minister, Tanzania has never downplayed the Covid-19 and will never do that; instead, the government would continue to encourage citizens to adhere to preventive measures recommended by experts.
By yesterday, the official number of people infected by coronavirus so far in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar stood at 509 with 21 deaths.
Other countries surrounding Tanzania with their statistics by yesterday are Kenya (1,214), Uganda (198), Rwanda (325), Burundi (42), Democratic Republic of Congo- DRC (2,141), Zambia (920), Malawi (82) and Mozambique (194).
So far, in Africa there are 110,273 cases of coronavirus with the high numbers being reported in South Africa (21,343), Egypt (16,513), Algeria (8,113), Nigeria (7,526), Morocco (7,429) and Ghana (6,683).
Globally, Covid-19 has so far infected around 5.5 million people with 345,000 deaths while number of patients who have recovered has reached 2,273,205.
Meanwhile, President Ali Mohamed Shein of Zanzibar has commended anti-coronavirus disease task force led by the Prime Minister Majaliwa Majaliwa for good work in combating the spread of the diseases that in turn has enabled the government to ease restrictions.
“COVID-19 disease is still a threat, but we should be thankful to God and the team which led us to control the spread. We are now in a better position and think of easing some restrictions imposed during the outbreak,” Dr Shein said, yesterday in his Eid celebration message to the citizens read at the State House.
He further said: “The Health Ministers-Ms Ummy Mwalimu (Union) and Mr Hamad Rashid Mohamed (Zanzibar) have worked with the Prime Minister and ensured that Covid-19 is controlled. We remain with only 34 of 134 patients in five centres in Zanzibar, because others have recovered.”
Elaborating, Dr Shein noted that once the situation would be completely managed, restrictions will be completely removed, however, he asked the residents to continue working hard to build the economy of the county affected by the pandemic.
In a related development, he thanked members of the business community, who reacted positively to the government’s call not to hike prices of goods on the pretext of coronavirus spread and Ramadan.
In a sympathetic speech, the Isles President also shared his grief with relatives of people, who died of Covid-19 and those affected by floods.
In his Eid message, Dr Shein also praised the Members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives led by Speaker Zubeir Ali Maulid for discussing and approving ministerial budget estimates for 2020/2021 fiscal year.
Dr Shein at the same time praised Media for conveying coronavirus messages to the public, and urged them to keep up the awareness campaign and alert.
Eid el-fitr (also called the Festival of Breaking the Fast) is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the end of the month-long, dawn-to-sunset fasting (abstaining from food, drinks, and other prohibited actions) of Ramadan (the ninth month of the Muslim calendar).
