As the United States of America announces a US Dollars 1 million (about 2.3bn/-) health assistance package for Tanzania in response to COVID-19, a third patient has so far recovered and been discharged from a treatment Centre in Ngara District in Kagera Region.
Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms. Ummy Mwalimu said a recovered patient had a history of visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi before being diagnosed with the virus.
"God is good as there are no new cases of COVID-19 recorded in our country while another patient in Kagera has recovered, bringing the total number of the recovered patients to three," Ms. Mwalimu said in a statement released yesterday.
Ms. Mwalimu further said the remaining patient in Arusha had tested negative; the patient will be tested again while in his 14 days under observation to prove if they can discharge the person.
"We now have 16 patients in Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar; they are all progressing well," she said.
She further said that the Ministry had issued 16,000 masks, 8,000 gloves, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Chlorine tablets for sanitizers to the Police Force and Prisons Department.
Apart from protective equipment, the Ministry will also provide training to them on preventive measures as they undertake their duties.
The assistance by the US government will help provide risk communication, water and sanitation, infection prevention and control, public health messaging and more in Tanzania.
According to a statement posted on their website across the board, they are working diligently to prioritise their assistance to those communities most in need.
"So far, our assistance is mainly medical assistance and supplies. However, these efforts will soon be supplemented by this additional assistance to bolster our partners; medical systems and mitigate the broader economic, stabilisation, and security effects of the outbreak," the statement read in part.