Tanzania: Coronavirus laboratory boss suspended

The Director of Tanzania’s National Health Laboratory and its quality manager have been suspended pending investigation.

The news comes just one day after the president, John Magufuli, questions the veracity of the coronavirus testing kits being used by the lab.

Mr Magufuli told Tanzanians he had secretly ordered the testing of randomly collected non-human samples, which were given names and ages, in a live broadcast from his hometown of Chato, in the north-west.

“Vehicle oil, for instance, labelled Jabir Hamza aged 30-years old [male], tested negative”, the president explained.

“We sent a jackfruit sample which we named Sara Samweli, a 45-year old female – the results were inconclusive.

“When we sent a papaya [paw-paw] sample and named it Elizabeth Ann, aged 26 years, that papaya was positive”.

He also said that samples from a bird and a goat returned positive, but the results from a rabbit were inconclusive.

The health ministry released a statement confirming the minister had formed a team to investigate the actions of the laboratory, which would submit its findings by 13 May.

Analysis of test results, however, will continue to be conducted at the lab.

The government has recently come under a lot of pressure for the way it’s handled the coronavirus outbreak.

The president, who refused to put the country on lockdown and encouraged people to continue to worship, has been accused of concealing the country’s true death toll, accusations he of course denies.

Officially, Tanzania has 480 confirmed cases of the virus, 16 of whom have died.

[Photo: Eric Boniphace/AFP]