Magufuli orders probe into coronavirus test kits after goat, pawpaw test positive

Tanzanian president, John Magufuli, has ordered a probe on the country’s coronavirus testing kits after samples taken from a goat and pawpaw tested positive.

Speaking at an event in Chato in the northwest of Tanzania on Sunday, the President said that the COVID-19 testing kits, which had been imported from abroad had “technical errors”.

Magufuli said that he had given directives to Tanzanian security forces to check the quality of the kits, who randomly collected non-human samples, including from pawpaw, a goat, and a sheep, but had assigned them human names and ages.

He further stated that these samples were then submitted to Tanzania’s laboratory to test for the coronavirus, with the lab technicians left deliberately unaware of their origins.

He said ”The samples from the pawpaw and the goat tested positive for COVID-19.

”This clearly states that it was likely that some people were being tested positive when in fact they were not infected by the Coronavirus.

“Are we now supposed to quarantine goats and fruits?

”If a sample from a goat, which turned positive it means that something is not adding up.”

The country, which is among the African countries being hit by the dreaded coronavirus pandemic has 408 confirmed cases, 167 patients have recovered with 16 deaths recorded.