This archive report was first published on 6 May 2020.
On Monday, Tanzanian Minister of Health Ummy Mwalimu suspended the Managing Director of the National Community Health Laboratory, Nyambura Muremi, with immediate effect, following President John Magufuli's concerns over the accuracy of COVID-19 tests conducted by the institution.
Magufuli had previously questioned the accuracy of the tests, claiming that imported coronavirus testing kits were faulty and had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw.
According to Magufuli, the kits had been tested on non-human samples, including a pawpaw, a goat, and a sheep, which were assigned human names and ages. The samples were then submitted to the laboratory for testing, with the technicians unaware of their origins.
Magufuli claimed that the samples from the pawpaw and the goat had tested positive for COVID-19, raising concerns that some people may have been incorrectly diagnosed with the virus.
A 10-man special committee, headed by Prof Eligius Lyamuya, has been appointed to investigate the collection and testing of COVID-19 samples and present its findings within 10 days.
