The sun sets on Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park. AP
JOHANNESBURG — Tanzania remains a trouble spot for the coronavirus as the government hasn’t updated the number of cases and deaths for a month and is accused of a cover-up.
The East African nation’s last update said cases were just above 500, with 21 deaths, but opposition leaders assert more than 400 deaths in the commercial hub of Dar es Salaam alone. They told reporters Wednesday they believe Tanzania’s true number of cases is between 16,000 and 20,000.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief, John Nkengasong, said they are “following this Tanzania situation very closely” and he urges countries to share data daily.
Africa has nearly 125,000 cases overall on the continent of 1.3 billion people, with some 30,000 new cases confirmed in the past week. Nkengasong said slightly under 2 million tests have been completed –far below the goal of 13 million. Shortages of test kits and reagents are a problem.