President Samia receives Covid-19 report from committee

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has received a report from a special committee of experts which she formed to professionally evaluate the Covid-19 pandemic today, May 17, 2021.

The reported was handed over by the committee chairman, Prof Said Aboud at State House Dar es Salaam.

 The committee was formed  to advise the government on the way forward regarding the management of the pandemic which first struck the country in March 2020.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam on April 6, 2021 during the swearing in ceremony of Permanent Secretaries and their deputies,  President Samia said she intended to form a committee that will advise the government on Covid-19 issues.

“On the issue of Covid-19, I think I should form a Committee of experts to look at it professionally and then advise the Government, it should not be silenced or rejected or accepted without professional research,” she said.

She added: We cannot isolate ourselves as if we are an Island but also we cannot accept everything brought to us, we cannot continue just reading about Covid-19 Worldwide, yet Tanzania is all blank, it is incomprehensible.

According to her, Tanzania needs to have a clear and understandable position regarding the pandemic so that it can make informed decisions.

In view of that, she said, Tanzania cannot rely on outside reports on the state of the pandemic while it has none.

“Tanzania needs to have its own understanding of where we stand on the issue of Covid-19,” she stressed.

Tanzania last released data on Covid-19 almost a year ago with data then showing that Tanzania only had 509 cases.

Since then, the government adopted the approach that Tanzania was free from Covid-19 with authorities encouraging local remedies such as steam therapy.