Tanzanian President, John Magufuli, has died of heart complications, vice president Samia Suluhu announced on a live TV Wednesday.
Mr Magufuli, who had not been seen in public for more than two weeks, was 61.
There were speculations that he was infected with COVID-19, a disease he downplayed its severity, but vice-president Suluhu brushed this aside.
Ms Suluhu said in a statement she issued live on local TBC that Mr Magufuli died of heart complications on Wednesday at about 6 p.m. in a hospital in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Magufuli, before his death, repeatedly made fun of his country’s COVID-19 testing, after which the East African country stopped sharing updates on the number of people infected and killed by the virus.
While neighbouring Kenya and Uganda imposed lockdowns and curfew, Mr Magufuli maintained business as usual in his country.
“We Tanzanians have not locked ourselves down, and I don’t expect to announce even a single day that we are implementing a lockdown because our God is still alive, and he will continue protecting us Tanzanians,” DW quoted the late president once telling a crowd.
“But we shall also continue taking precautions, including steaming. You steam, at the same time pray to God, and go on with your daily activities so that you eat well and your body builds immunity against the coronavirus.”
But he began to acknowledge the severity of the virus after Zanzibar’s first vice-president, Sharif Hamad, died from the virus in February.
