Following positive test results from samples taken from a goat and pawpaw, Tanzanian president, John Magufuli, has directed an investigation into the country’s coronavirus testing kits.
During an event in Chato in the northwest of Tanzania, Magufuli revealed that the COVID-19 testing kits, which had been imported, exhibited “technical errors.”
He ordered Tanzanian security forces to assess the quality of the kits and instructed them to randomly obtain samples from non-human sources, including a pawpaw, a goat, and a sheep. These samples were given human names and ages and submitted to the country’s laboratory for coronavirus testing, without the lab technicians knowing their origins.
Subsequently, Magufuli disclosed that the samples from the pawpaw and the goat tested positive for COVID-19, raising concerns about the accuracy of the testing process and the possibility of false positive results.
Expressing his incredulity, President Magufuli questioned, “We extracted a sample from a goat which turned positive. This tells you that something is not adding up. Are we now supposed to quarantine goats and fruits?”