Pulse logo
Pulse Region

BBC shuts down Tanzania offices as staff tests positive for coronavirus (Exclusive)

Just In:
File Image of BBC headquarters in Nairobi (Courtesy)
File Image of BBC headquarters in Nairobi (Courtesy)

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has shut down it's offices in Tanzania after one of the staff members tested positive for coronavirus.

According to a source who spoke to this journalist on condition of anonymity, the staff member is a studio technician and the rest of the team, who are approximately twenty have been sent on quarantine.

The source further mentioned that the staff who tested positive was doing fine and in stable condition.

BBC has also moved their swahili flagship program Amka na BBC, that usually broadcasts from Tanzania, to Nairobi. The offices that have been closed are based in Mikocheni upmarket suburb of Dar es Salaam.

Covid 19 cases in Tanzania

The number of COVID-19 cases in Tanzania jumped to 480 on Wednesday after 196 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The country's Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said the country had also registered six more deaths bringing the number of fatalities to 16 since the virus was first recorded in Tanzania.

The development saw Tanzania the leading country in coronavirus cases, overtaking Kenya which has 396 confirmed cases as of Thursday April 30th. Rwanda has 225 cases while Uganda has 81 confirmed cases - 14 of them being Kenyan and Tanzanian truck drivers.

Tanzania had been criticized for its lax measures against Covid19 after its President, John Pombe Magufuli allowed churches to continue operating arguing that the coronavirus would not survive in a church or a mosque.

Read Also: Tanzania announces 196 new coronavirus cases in one day, total now at 480 cases

Next Article