AfricaPress-Tanzania: WITH effect from tomorrow, every person in Dar es Salaam Region must wear a facemask when he or she is public service settings, especially at trading centres, as part of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking on Saturday at an event in Dar es Salaam organised to hand over chemicals for producing hand sanitisers to Medical Stores Department (MSD), Regional Commissioner (RC), Paul Makonda also announced that with effect from tomorrow, all businesses should be conducted under the take away system.
The RC advised people to use handkerchiefs or ‘khanga’ to make masks and wear them as they venture out for their shopping and related activities.
“If you go out for shopping, you should cover your face with a mask and as soon as you finish buying, leave immediately.
“People should also observe the two-metre distance between sellers and buyers,” said Mr Makonda.
The RC Also directed the authorities responsible for the supervision of market places in the region to come up with alternative strategies which will help to curb the spread of the virus at all times.
Despite the fact that the government directed traders not to hike prices of the crucial protective gear, it has been discovered that some of the shops sell face masks at around 2,000/-and higher, making it difficult for ordinary people to buy them.
Given the situation, people will be forced to follow the RC’s advice of using handkerchiefs and khanga as face masks.
However, guidelines of wearing face masks suggest that a person is only required to use one mask for four hours and the same order applies during the entire day.
Thus, requiring a person to wear four masks would entail spending 8,000/-in all, and even more.
This has prompted many people to call on the government to intervene, proposing that a face mask should cost 500/-, to enable many people to buy and use them.
It has also come to light that the advice for using handkerchief and khanga as an alternative means of making the face masks might trigger the sneaking into the market, of sub-standard items that are actually not masks.
Until Friday, Dar es Salaam had recorded 100 COVID-19 cases out of the total 147 registered countrywide.
On Friday, Mbeya Regional Commissioner (RC), Albert Chalamila announced that with effect from tomorrow, all bars in the region will close at 9 pm.
Recently, the Deputy Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Faustine Ndugulile, disclosed that the ministry was in the process of finalising guidelines of making face masks which will be used by the general public for protection against Covid-19.
He pointed out that guidance will be issued for the ‘do-it-yourself cloth masks’ to allow people to make and use them.
“Once our experts have completed the process, the minister will issue out guidelines to the general public on the proper ways of making cloth masks in compliance with the required standards,” he noted.
He observed that for it to be identified as a mask, it should contain at least three layers to prevent infection from penetrating through a person.
