Zanzibar First Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad has confirmed reports that he recently tested positive for coronavirus.
The Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazendo) party official, who is receiving treatment in hospital, said his wife had also contracted the virus.
“It is true I am at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital where I am being treated for Covid-19 and my wife has been isolated at home,” Mr Hamad told the East African via a text message on Monday.
Mr Hamad becomes the first person to publicly reveal Covid-19 status since April 2020 when Tanzania stopped releasing coronavirus statistics. Then, there were at least 509 infections and 21 fatalities.
Read: South African Covid Variant Now In Tanzania
President John Pombe Magufuli of Tanzania claimed that coronavirus had been defeated thanks to prayers.
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous Island in the East African country.
Last week, Magufuli warned Tanzanians against embracing Covid-19 from western countries.
Speaking during the launch of a public forest in Chato, Geita Region last Wednesday, the Head of State cast doubt on the global urge to develop Covid-19 vaccine claiming that little has been done to help cure other diseases like tuberculosis, HIV-AIDs, malaria among other infections.
Read Also: Magufuli Claims Tanzanians Vaccinated Against Covid-19 “Brought” Virus Back Home
“You should stand firm. Vaccinations are dangerous. If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, he should have found a vaccination for AIDs by now; he would have found a vaccination of tuberculosis by now; he would have found a vaccination for malaria by now; he would have found a vaccination for cancer by now,” he said.
He added, “the Health ministry must know that not every vaccination is meaningful to our nation. Tanzanians must be mindful so that we are not used for trials of some doubtful vaccinations which can have serious repercussions on our health.”
He claimed that Tanzanians who had been vaccinated against Covid-19 in other countries “brought a strange variant” back home.
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