Confusion over Tanzania’s coronavirus testing kits after goat, pawpaw test positive

Mbabane: The quality of the test kits donated by China in Africa is questionable.

President of Tanzania Dr. John Magufuli has criticized the test kits donated by china saying they were fake and their results cannot be trusted.

Eswatini is amongst the many African countries who received testing kits and Personal protective equipment from china.

Speaking in an event in Chato, western Tanzania Magufuli dismissed the test kits used in his country saying that they were faulty because they had returned positive results on samples taken from goat and pawpaw.

President Magufuli born in 1959 has PhD in Chemistry from the University of Dar es Salaam, said he had instructed Tanzanian security forces to check the quality of the kits. They had randomly obtained several non-human samples, including from a pawpaw, a goat and a sheep, but had assigned them human names and ages.

These samples were then submitted to Tanzania’s laboratory to test for the coronavirus, with the lab technicians left deliberately unaware of their origins.

Samples from the pawpaw and the goat tested positive for Covid-19, the president said, adding this meant it was likely that some people were being tested positive when in fact they were not infected by the coronavirus.

He has also ordered a probe on the country’s corona virus testing protocol citing a possible interference.

“There is something happening. I said before we should not accept that every aid is meant to be good for this nation,” Magufuli said, adding the kits should be investigated.

Magufuli also said that he was sending a plane to collect a cure being promoted by Madagascar’s president. The herbal mix has not yet undergone internationally recognized scientific testing.

“I’m communicating with Madagascar,” he said during a speech, adding: “They have got a medicine. We will send a flight there and the medicine will be brought in the country so that Tanzanians too can benefit.”

Tanzania has been criticized by public health expects for being secretive and enabling a more relaxed approach to the pandemic. Unlike other countries who report daily Tanzania goes almost days without reporting any updates.

The first corona virus case was reported in March 16, 2020. As of Monday May 4, 2020 according to the coronavirus global data Tanzania has recorded 480 covid-19 cases with 18 deaths and 167 recoveries.