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Africa News of Friday, 27 March 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Tanzania police arrest couple for spreading false COVID-19 info

President John Magufuli of Tanzania President John Magufuli of Tanzania

A Tanzanian couple has been arrested by the country's police for spreading false information about coronavirus, an offence they reportedly committed last week.

Police Chief Lazaro Mambosasa of Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam, accused the couple of ridiculing the government while they were on public transport last week.

Mambosasa said that Elias Mwita, 29 and Rosemary Elias Mwita, 41, were misleading the public and will soon be brought to court, adding that the police have already completed investigations.

"They said that Coronavirus is a hoax and that the government has run out of food to feed students, and so it's using the pandemic as a cover-up to close schools, colleges and universities," Mr Mambosasa told journalists.

The couple was handed over to the police by the bus driver upon the directives of fellow passengers who were by their assertions, according to Mambosasa.

They would not be the first to be arrested for spreading false information about the outbreak, Mambosasa said, as President John Magufuli ordered, last week, that offenders should be punished.

So far Tanzania has 13 confirmed cases of coronavirus, eight of the patients are Tanzanians and the other five are foreign nationals. One of the 13 has already recovered.

BBC