Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has made sensational claims that fumigation does not kill coronavirus.
Magufuli has gone as far as banning fumigation in Dar es Salaam and other parts of the country, saying the exercise is only effective in eliminating mosquitoes and cockroaches, and not ridding an area of coronavirus.
“There is no fumigation that kills coronavirus. The so-called fumigation that was done in Dar es Salaam is stupidity. You can’t kill coronavirus using chlorine. Such an exercise only eliminates mosquitoes and cockroaches,” Magufuli said during a televised address to the nation.
According to the head of state, there is no proof that the Covid-19 virus is killed by fumigation.
He stated that such fumigation if at all it helped then developed countries wouldn’t be battling the virus anymore.
“If that was the case then developed countries that have been fumigating their cities day and night could have already been rid of the novel coronavirus completely,” he said.
“From today (Wednesday, April 22), I order that the Ministry of Health stops all fumigation exercises in Tanzania. Unless we are ridding cities of mosquitoes and cockroaches, I do not want to see any fumigation taking place,” he said.
At the same time, the president said despite his office being subjected to pressure to announce a lockdown in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, he won’t succumb to the “undue pressure”.
“I won’t shut Dar es Salaam over coronavirus crisis, never! If you do not know, Dar es Salaam generates 80 per cent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product,” he said.
Magufuli also directed that before face masks donated from abroad are used by the citizens the Ministry of Health should confirm that they “are not laced with coronavirus.”
“We shouldn’t trust anything donated to us by foreigners, we could be catching coronavirus from the masks donated to us. We must interrogate who manufactured the face masks who are donating them and the motive of their generosity,” he said.
Tanzania’s coronavirus cases on Wednesday soared to 284 after 30 more people tested positive. Of the confirmed cases, 11 have recovered while 10 had succumbed to the virus.
