Fumigating towns to ‘kill’ coronavirus is stupidity, such exercise only kills mosquitoes – Tanzania president

TRACKING___Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has banned fumigation in Dar es Salaam and other parts of the country, saying the exercise is only effective in eliminating mosquitoes and cockroaches, and not ridding an area of coronavirus.

Addressing the nation from Chato area in Geita region, northwestern Tanzania, on Wednesday, April 22, the president said there is no proof that fumigating an area shields it against coronavirus, observing that “if that was the case, then developed countries that have been fumigating cities day in, day out, could have already been rid of the novel coronavirus, completely”.

“There is no amount of fumigation that kills coronavirus!” he said in a public address aired on Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC).

“The so-called fumigation that was done in Dar es Salaam is stupidity. You can’t kill coronavirus using chlorine. Such an exercise, only eliminates mosquitoes and cockroaches. From today (Wednesday, April 22), I order that the Ministry of Health stops all fumigation exercises in Tanzania. Unless we are ridding cities of mosquitoes and cockroaches, I do not want to see any fumigation taking place,” added the Head of State.

Magufuli, in his address, also expressed skepticism in accepting face masks donated by foreign nations, saying before allowing the masks to be used by Tanzanian citizens, the Ministry of Health must first ascertain that they “were not laced with coronavirus”.

“We must interrogate who manufactured the face masks, who is donating them to us, and what is the motivation of their generosity. We shouldn’t always trust anything donated to us by foreigners. We could be catching coronavirus from the masks donated to us,” said the president.