President Magafuli says a paw paw tested positive for corona.
In a viral video seen on Sunday, May 3, the head of state said he, together with his officials, took samples of a pawpaw, oil, a goat, sheep, among others to the laboratory to test for COVID-19.
He also labelled the samples and after testing, the car oil came out negative, but the pawpaw and the goat tested positive.
President Magafuli said:
We saw it (laboratory) was just testing positive and I therefore sent some officials to go check on the testing kits. I always say, not everything given to you is in good condition. It could be sabotage because this is a war Whereas some animals around the world tested positive for the virus, there was no study that proves plants and fruits such as pawpaw could contract or harbour the virus.
Tanzania cases have been spiking sharply in recent weeks.
Facebook This unfolded at a time the number of cases in the East African nation was skyrocketing.
Tanzania president Magufuli says some of the testing kits donated to Africa are fake. He says animal, bird and fruit samples secretly sent to the National lab returned positive for the coronavirus – including a bird, a goat and pawpaw.
— FERDINAND OMONDI (@FerdyOmondi) May 3, 2020
About three days earlier, Tanzania had recorded 196 new cases pushing the national tally to 480. The new cases were identified by medics between Thursday, April 24, and Tuesday, April 28.
(H/T TUKO)