AfricaPress-Tanzania: The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country have jumped from 53 to 88 after the announcement of 29 new cases on Tanzania Mainland and six in Zanzibar on Wednesday.
However, Zanzibar on Wednesday announced the first death of COVID-19 patient, bring the total number of deaths in the country to four so far.
The Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ms Ummy Mwalimu, said in a statement on Wednesday that all new cases are of Tanzanians, whereby 26 are in Dar es Salaam, two in Mwanza and one patient is in Kilimanjaro Region.
According to her, the new cases resulted from the samples that were taken on 14 and 15 April this year.
“All patients are receiving treatment as the government is continuing with the tracing exercise of all people who were close to the patients,” said Ms Mwalimu.
By yesterday, the government completed making follow-ups on 640 people who were likely to have contacted suspects of COVID-19 and have been released to join their families.
As of Tuesday evening, a total of 871 people were being followed up by health experts to establish whether they had contracted the deadly virus or not.
According to statistics that were released yesterday by Public Health Emergency Operation Centre of the Ministry of Health, a total of 41 people are under mandatory 14-day quarantine.
So far, the number of COVID-19 cases in Tanzania has been reported in Dar es Salaam (62) Zanzibar (18), Arusha (3), Mwanza (3), Kagera (1) and Kilimanjaro (1).
“The number of people who have recovered and discharged from treatment is 11 while death cases are four,” said the minister in a statement.
In Zanzibar, Health Minister Hamad Rashid Mohammed said in a statement yesterday that a 63-year old man and resident of Zanzibar City’s Kijichi suburb is the first Zanzibari to succumb to the deadly virus.
The old man died last Saturday at his home and was buried on the same day, Minister Hamad said, adding that all the newly confirmed patients have no history of travelling outside the country in recent days.
The minister called upon Zanzibaris to take precautionary measures against the novel virus.
The patients have been admitted to the COVID-19 special treatment centres where they are responding positively to medications.
Besides the deceased, the new patients include 37-year old resident of Fuoni, 45-year old Pangawe resident, 60-year old resident of Kwamchina and 33-year old Egyptian who entered the country on March 15 from Egypt through Dubai.
Among the patients also is a 48-year old female and resident of Migombani, the minister explained in his statement.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has issued a strong warning against all gatherings that bring together children at religious buildings instead of staying home as instructed by the government.
He maintained the stand that, all children should stay at home as part of the measures to prevent further spread of COVID-19, that is why the government took initiatives of closing all schools and learning institutions until further notice.
The premier made the statement during its meeting with the leaders of the Mwanza regional security committee, a meeting that was held through a video conferencing from his office in Dodoma.
According to him, recently, there are reports showing that some parents are taking their children to churches and mosques to attend Sunday school sessions and Madrasa, without following government instructions.
“We have allowed normal services only and it is stressed that all believers in churches and mosques should maintain social distance and observe all recommendations by health experts,” said Mr Majaliwa.
He added that another challenge that has been observed is churches that have more than 3,000 believers, reminding them to adhere to the guidelines to avoid spread of the deadly Coronavirus.
“I believe that bishops and Muftis will handle it in a positive way,” he said, adding that the government hasn’t planned to close businesses and other shopping areas but instructed all business men and women to ensure safety of their customers.
Earlier yesterday, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda named centres for sample collection in each of the districts in the country’s commercial city.
The centers for collecting samples of the Covid-19 are Mwananyamala Hospital, Magomeni Health Centre, Mikoroshini Health Centre (Msasani), IST Clinic, TMJ Hospital and Rabininsia Hospital.
Others are Amana, Buguruni Hospital, Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, Regency Hospital, Muhimbili National Hospital, Aga Khan Hospital and Hindu Mandal Hospital.
On the list also are Temeke Regional Referral Hospital, Mbagala Rangi Tatu Hospital, Yombo Health Centre, TOHS Hospital Chang’ombe, Sinza Hospital, Kimara Health Center, Bochi Hospital, Mloganzila, Vijibweni Health Center, Aga Khan Hospital and Kigamboni Health Center.
Given the current statistics, Tanzania has continued to be among African countries with the lowest number of cases in Africa and other regional blocs.
According to global statistics, African countries with higher transmission rates of COVID-19 pandemic as of yesterday were South Africa (2,415), Egypt (2,350), Algeria (2,070), Morocco (1,988), Cameroon (848), Tunisia (747), Ivory Coast (638) Ghana (636), Niger (570) and Burkina Faso (528).
Countries bordering Tanzania with their the number of confirmed cases in brackets are Democratic Republic of Congo (235), Kenya (216), Rwanda (134), Uganda (55), Zambia (48), Mozambique (28), Malawi (16) while Burundi has reported to have five cases.
Due to the current status of the spread of Coronavirus, the government has continued to advise Tanzanians and the general public to continue paying attention to all preventive measures recommended by heath experts to avoid further transmission of the pandemic.
Statistics show that, so far, Africa has recorded a total number of 17,143 cases with 883 deaths and 3,431 recoveries. Active cases as of yesterday were over 12,000.
Worldwide, as of yesterday, COVID-19 was reported to have affected more than 2 million people with more than 128,000 deaths, over 490,000 recoveries while active cases as of Wednesday evening were more than 1,400,000.
According to health experts, Coronavirus spreads primarily through contact with an infected person when they cough or sneeze.
It is also spreads when a person touches a surface or an object that has the virus on it and then touches their eyes, nose or mouth.
COVID-19 causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever, and in more severe cases difficulty breathing.
Preventive measures include regular hand washing by using soap with clean and moving water, hands sanitizing and avoiding touching face and close contact with people who are unwell.
Moreover, the government has asked Tanzanians to report to the authorities’ via free toll numbers 199, 0800110124, 0800110125 and 0800110037 once they come across a person who has developed symptoms of Coronavirus pandemic.
