Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:54 pm
Tanzania officially announced the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the annual Union Day celebrations. The day is marked to commemorate the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to become Tanzania.
April 26 is the day of the celebration but Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa announced the cancellation in connection to the current coronavirus pandemic.
“President John Magufuli has also directed that a sum of 500 million Tanzanian shillings ($217,000), set as a budget for the Union Day celebrations, should be reallocated to the fund for fighting coronavirus in the country,” the PM said.
Tanzania’s stats board as of April 15 is of 53 cases, seven recoveries and three deaths. The closure of academic institutions have also been indefinitely postponed, media reports said.
The East African country is one of a handful that has refused to close its borders due to the pandemic. Explaining the reason during the Easter period, President Magufuli said most neighbours who depended of their ports would suffer if they did.
