Iran Press/Africa: John Magufuli, Tanzania’s president who dismissed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic has died. He was 61 years old.
Tanzania’s Vice President Samia Sulhu Hassan reported Magufuli’s death on state television shortly before midnight on Wednesday, saying he had died of heart complications while being treated in Dar es Salaam’s Mzena hospital.
Magufuli had not been seen in public since 27 February and rumors circulated online that he was sick and possibly incapacitated from illness. Government officials had insisted Magufuli was working normally and citizens should ignore rumors from outside the country. Last week, the country’s opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, told to media that Magafuli was critically ill in a hospital in Kenya after contracting Covid-19.
219
