Tanzania president publicly wears face mask at home

Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan has today appeared at the elders meeting in Dar es Salaam wearing a face mask including her aides plus many of those in attendance.

Despite having worn face masks in her two previous foreign trips to Kenya and Tanzania, this is the first time that President Samia has won a face mask in a public event while at home.

"We apologize, our lifestyle has changed we have come here today in face masks and this is because the elderly are at a higher risk of contracting this disease, so we have to protect them," President Samia said.

She added: "Today's gathering is huge so we have decided to wear face masks to protect our Elders, because we your children are always moving around including going to other countries we do not know who has and who does not, yet the elderly are the ones at risk of contracting COVID-19."

The meeting which was convened at Milimani City Hall was attended by 900 elders from all the districts of Dar es Salaam City including Ilala, Temeke, Ubungo, Kinondoni, and Kigamboni.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appeared today for the first time in a public event in Tanzania wearing a face mask.

The Head of State addressing Dar es Salaam elders said the committee of experts working on the coronavirus situation in the country will soon submit its report. pic.twitter.com/2EmNHnnNl1

— Tanzania Updates ???? (@TanzaniaUpdates) May 7, 2021

Recently the president announced that she has formed a committee to advice on the ways of how to combat the deadly coronavirus guided by scientific findings.

And with the outbreak of the a dead variant in India, doctors in the country have asked the government to push for social distancing, increase testing while capable institutions should be allowed to provide testing services and emergency hospitals with enough oxygen should be prepared.

The doctors have warned that Tanzania is supposed to be keen and learn a lesson from India that has been hit hard by a wave of the coronavirus.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is yet to announce whether the new double mutant discovered in India is dangerous as it did with the variants found in the UK, Brazil and South Africa