Tanzania is “coronavirus- free”, the country’s president John Magufuli has declared.

According to BBC, Magufuli said the virus has been defeated thanks to prayers by citizens.

This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the government’s strategy on Covid-19.

“The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Mr. Magufuli told worshippers during a church service in Dodoma.

“I want to thank Tanzanians of all faiths. We have been praying and fasting for God to save us from the pandemic that has afflicted our country and the world. But God has answered us.

“I believe, and I’m certain that many Tanzanians believe, that the corona disease has been eliminated by God,”

He added.

The government stopped publishing data on the number of coronavirus cases in the country.

On 29 April, the last day official data was released, there were 509 cases, with 21 deaths in Tanzania. However, Mr Magufuli said last week that only four patients were receiving treatment in the largest city, Dar es Salaam.

Last month, Tanzania’s government dismissed a US embassy warning that hospitals in Dar es Salaam were “overwhelmed” and that the chances of contracting the virus was “extremely high”.

Tanzania President Magufuli Says Coronavirus Cannot Survive In Churches