Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has died aged 61,

The country’s vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan announced in an address on state television that he died yesterday from heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam.

Magufuli had not been seen in public for more than two weeks, and rumors have been circulating about his health.

Opposition politicians said last week that he had contracted Covid-19, but this has not been confirmed.

Magufuli was one of Africa’s most prominent coronavirus skeptics and called for prayers and herbal-infused steam therapy to counter the virus.
She said there would be 14 days of national mourning and flags would fly at half-mast.