Tanzania’s troubling response to COVID-19

Tanzanian President John Magufuli has questioned the safety of face masks, refused to impose a lockdown, and issued irregular updates on COVID-19 infection rates. On Sunday, he suspended the head of the national health laboratory and condemned imported coronavirus test kits as faulty because they returned false positives for non-human samples like a goat and a papaya.

Health officials in Tanzania said they had recorded 480 cases of the coronavirus and 18 deaths as of Sunday. On Thursday, the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 509 cases, 18 deaths, and 167 recoveries. Activists and opposition lawmakers believe true numbers are much higher. Videos have surfaced on Twitter and elsewhere showing late-night, secret burials by people wearing personal protective equipment.

Zitto Kabwe, a prominent opposition leader, claimed doctors have recorded six times the number of officially reported infections. “I don’t want to feel like the government is hiding something,” he told the BBC. “Without transparency, the citizens will be more scared, which may cause even more deaths.”

Tanzania closed down all schools and banned public gatherings in March, but markets, bus stations, and shops remained open. Magufuli also excluded religious activities from the restrictions. “This is time to build our faith and continue praying to God and not depending on face masks,” he said

Magufuli rejected calls to shut down Dar es Salaam, the worst-hit city, because it “is the only center where we collect almost 80 percent of the country’s revenue.”

In contrast, several other African countries that imposed at least two-week lockdowns are starting to ease their restrictions.

Meanwhile, aid groups continue to provide economic and social support for Tanzanian communities affected by COVID-19. In Dar es Salaam, Waleed Rauf, country director with the nongovernmental organization CARE Tanzania, said many people have started wearing face masks. His group is airing educational talk shows on local radio stations and sending informational text messages about the disease.

Across the country, several community-based savings groups, which provide financial support and accessible loans to their mostly female members, have continued to operate during the pandemic. “It’s better they build that social and economic capital to support themselves rather than lose the solidarity that helps them through a crisis,” Rauf said.

On Thursday, Dr. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters that the test kits the organization provided in partnership with Chinese billionaire Jack Ma were “working very well.”

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s Africa director, said Tanzania delayed implementing physical distancing measures and restricting travel from Dar es Salaam. She said the WHO has received reports from neighboring countries about Tanzanian truck drivers carrying cargo across the border who have tested positive for the COVID-19. As a result, Moeti said, “We’re working to advise the government, provide them with the knowledge we have in order to make policy decisions based on data to enable the government to get on top of the situation.”

A move to protect women

A change to Sudan’s criminal code could lead to a three-year prison sentence for anyone practicing female genital mutilation, the Sudanese government announced last week. The law, first introduced last month, still needs approval from the ruling Cabinet and the sovereign council.

Sudan has made sweeping reforms since the overthrow of longtime President Omar al-Bashir last year. In November, the government overturned the country’s moral policing law that penalized women for indecent dressing and drinking alcohol.

A 2014 report by the United Nations children’s agency estimated that 87 percent of Sudanese women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have been subjected to female genital mutilation. Activists welcomed the law but said more work remains to enforce the change.

“People who still believe in the practice might not report cases or act to stop FGM when they know it is happening,” Faiza Mohamed, Africa regional director for Equality Now, told Reuters. —O.O.

An unlikely helper

When the coronavirus pandemic hit the northern African kingdom of Morocco, Noureddine Elmihnida—an ex-convict with a history of crime and drugs—stepped up to assist the elderly in his community.

Morocco has confirmed more than 5,500 cases of COVID-19. While the country has been under strict lockdown, Elmihnida and his team have gone grocery shopping and picked up medications for those who need help. He also assists stranded migrants who can’t cross the Mediterranean Sea into Spain due to border closures.

Since his release from prison, Elmihnida has worked with former inmates and volunteers to improve the densely populated and crime-ridden neighborhood of El Youssoufia. He said he has little fear for his own health: “God will protect me because he knows I’m helping people without expecting a payback.” —O.O.

A prize-winning gesture

Former Soviet dissident and political figure Natan Sharansky, who received Israel’s 2020 Genesis Prize, said on Monday he will donate his $1 million award to battle the coronavirus.

The prize money will provide immediate relief to Israeli groups offering emergency support services. Some of the money will fund projects focused on developing a vaccine for the COVID-19 at Columbia University and New York University in the United States, Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and other research facilities.

The Genesis Prize recognizes Jews who have attained recognition and excellence in their fields of expertise.

Sharansky’s activism began in the 1970s. He was one of the founding members of the Helsinki Group that monitored human rights abuses by the Soviets, who detained him in 1977 and held him for nine years. In 1986, authorities in Moscow released him in a prisoner swap and he moved to Israel. Sharansky served almost a decade as an Israeli lawmaker and Cabinet minister. —O.O.

Arrested

The Libyan National Army last week reported it had captured Egyptian terrorist Muhammad Muhammad al-Sayed after tracking him for months. Military officials caught up with him in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and took him to the city of Benghazi. A spokesman for the Libyan government said the army will discuss a possible extradition with Egyptian authorities.

Al-Sayed—also called Muhammad al-Senbekhti or Abu-Khaled Mounir—is the suspected mastermind behind several Islamic State attacks in Egypt on Coptic Christians in 2016 and 2017, including the Palm Sunday church bombings at St. George’s Church in Tanta and St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria. The attacks killed nearly 50 people and injured many others. One of the victims, Mary Edwar, was blown off her feet at the gate of St. Mark’s, endured shrapnel wounds, and lost her husband and unborn child. —Julia A. Seymour