Tanzanian President John Magufuli says he will dispatch a plane to Madagascar to get a herbal treatment for Covid-19.
“I
have communicated with Madagascar and they already have written a
letter saying they have Covid-19 treatment. We will send a plane to
bring the drugs so that Tanzanians can also benefit,” the head of state
said in a television address, adding that he is “working day and night”
to save the lives of Tanzanians.
The herbal tonic, marketed as Covid-Organics, has been touted as a cure for coronavirus by the country’s president.
Covid-Organics is produced from artemisia plant, the source of an ingredient used in a malaria treatment.
But the World Health Organisation has said there is no proof of any cure in the herbal tonic.
Tanzania has reported 480 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic broke out. Kenya has 465 cases.
In his Labour Day address to the nation on Friday, Mr Magufuli
asked Tanzanians to keep working and ignore naysayers “who don’t wish
Tanzania well”.
"Some people are asking us to close
down our markets. Where will we buy food for our six million people in
Dar es Salaam?’’ President Magufuli asked as he branded those asking for
such closures “short-sighted”.
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He
added: "Do not be scared by the whims of short-sighted people. Our
enemies want us to do such foolish things (close the markets). The
situation is even worse in developed countries, who closed their
markets."
He said some rich countries, in spite of all
their financial muscle, had lost more than 50,000 people to Covid-19,
arguing that closure of businesses wasn’t the solution to the virus that
has claimed nearly 250,000 lives globally.
"In
Tanzania, we won’t copy and paste what everyone else is doing. Let’s
keep working, observe the precautions and ignore the naysayers," he
said.
Mr Magufuli has been on record claiming that the
virus cannot harm the faithful, encouraging them to keep praying for
protection.
He recently ordered security agencies to investigate the national referral laboratory over the ever rising positive results.
He
accused the lab staff of alleged “contravention” and “sabotage”. In the
investigation, the head of state said they took samples from a goat, a
sheep, a pawpaw, a rabbit, engine oil, jack fruit and a bird without
revealing the sources to the lab staff.
He said tests on samples taken from a goat, a pawpaw, a jack fruit and a bird returned positive results.
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