Tanzania’s President John Magufuli said his country will not use imported coronavirus (COVID-19) testing kits. President Magufuli said the imported COVID-19 testing kits contained “technical errors” and returned positive results on samples taken from non-humans. The Tanzanian President’s remarks were made during an event in Chato, located in northwestern Tanzania. The NOI Research Group posted information about President Magufuli’s remarks via twitter @NOIResearch.
The Tanzanian President questioned the quality of the imported COVID-19 testing kits when samples were taken from a pawpaw, a goat and a sheep. The non-human samples were assigned human names and ages before being submitted to Tanzania’s laboratory for testing, according to a report from Aljazeera.com. Lab technicians were deliberately not made aware of their origins. Samples from the pawpaw and a goat tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. President Magufuli concluded that it was likely that people might test positive, even though they were not infected by the virus.
“There is something happening. I said before we should not accept that every aid is meant to be good for this nation” said Tanzania’s President Magufuli. He added, there needs to be an investigation of the imported test kits. President Magufuli has instructed Tanzanian security forces to check the quality of the imported COVID-19 test kits. In addtion, he has ordered a herbal treatment called “Covid Organics” prepared by Malagasy Institute for Applied Research.
President Magufuli said “I have already written to Madagascar’s president and we will soon dispatch a plane to fetch the medicine so that Tanzania can also benefit from it”. The herbal treatment is made from Artemisia, a plant cultivated in Madagascar. President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar claimed that it has already cured some Madagascans of COVID-19, according to Aljazeera.com. Children in Madagascar are required to take the herbal remedy when returning to school
