Healthcare Partners

Tanzania will spend $470 million buying vaccines and supporting economic sectors hit hard by the coronavirus, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Monday. Since Hassan took office after the death of then-president John Magufuli in March, the government has changed tack from playing down the pandemic to calling for social distancing and emphasising mask wearing in public. Issuing the first data on infections since May 2020, Hassan said there were more than 100 Covid-19 patients in Tanzania as of last Saturday, with 70 of them being provided oxygen. Half of the cash will be spent on vaccines, protective gear and other medical equipment, Hassan said, with the rest going to stimulate sectors that are reeling from the crisis. She did not give details about the sectors but tourism, one of the t...