Samia Suluhu Hassan

EPACopyright: EPA

A task force formed to review Covid-19 protocols in Tanzania has advised that the government should consider a mass vaccination programme against the pandemic. It stressed, however, that it should be optional to have the jab.

The committee proposed that authorities should get the vaccines and start with special groups such as medical practitioners, those working in the tourism sector and elderly people.

The health task force, formed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to advise the government on the best way to handle the coronavirus pandemic, has also advised the government to start making coronavirus information public.

The last time Tanzania issued Covid-19 statistics was almost a year ago.

The 14-member task force has drafted 19 recommendations, one of these is making the vaccination optional.

The team also advised the government to be well prepared for a third wave of the virus.

The committee has submitted the report to President Samia on Monday afternoon at the State House in Dar es Salaam as it awaits her approval.

President Samia's new approach towards the pandemic is very different from her predecessor the late John Magufuli, who called on mass prayers to defeat the pandemic.

Tanzania State HouseCopyright: Tanzania State House

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appeared for the first time at a public event in the East African nation wearing a face mask.

Her predecessor, John Magufuli - who died in March - had always refused to wear one, and was considered a coronavirus sceptic.

Ms Samia has worn face masks outside of Tanzania - most notably this week on her two-day state visit to neighbouring Kenya.

At the event in Dar es Salaam on Friday, she was addressing an audience of more than 800 elders from across the country.

“We apologise, our lifestyle has changed, we have come here today in face masks and this is because the elderly are at a higher risk of contracting this disease, so we have to protect them,” the president said.

Since coming to power, the 61-year-old has not been afraid to show that she is prepared to take a different and more considered path than Mr Magufuli.

She has formed a committee of experts to advise her on the status of Covid-19 in the country and the necessary steps to take to keep people safe.

During her visit to Kenya she made a light-hearted comment about mask wearing - comparing it a herder muzzling a goat to stop it eating crops.

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ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Tanzania's new President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been elected as the chairperson of the governing party.

She was the only candidate for leadership of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.

Correspondents say the appointment will give the country’s first female president greater power to influence the membership and activity of the party that in different forms has been in power since independence 60 years ago.

She became president when John Magufuli - a coronavirus sceptic - died in March.

President Samia has adopted a very different position, promoting a science-based approach to tackling the pandemic.

She has also reached out to Tanzania's political opposition which has been oppressed for years.

• Samia Suluhu Hassan - Tanzania's new president
• The cautionary tale of the president who denied coronavirus

AFPCopyright: AFP

President Samia Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania’s first female president when she replaced John Pombe Magufuli, who died in March.

She’s also Africa’s only woman leader, apart from Ethiopia’s Sahle-Work Zewde, whose position is mainly ceremonial.

And despite President Magufuli’s popular legacy, she doesn’t seem afraid to take the country in a new direction.

He was one of Africa's most prominent coronavirus sceptics, but she’s set up a group of experts to tackle the pandemic.

He shut down media outlets that criticised his government, but she’s allowed some of them to re-open.

He cut off contact with other countries, but she’s been busy meeting her neighbours - and signing deals with them.

In her first state visit to Uganda, she launched a billion-dollar project with President Museveni, setting up the longest electrically heated pipeline in the world.

“That’s a big step,” said the BBC’s Tanzania correspondent Aboubakar Famau. “Especially considering that during President Magufuli’s time, some countries, it was believed, had a strained relationship with Tanzania.”

Her appointment as president has been positive for other female politicians, even those from the opposition, such as Upendo Furaha Peneza.

“If she does her job well... this will help to actually change part of the patriarchy mindset within the public,” she said.

In this edition of Africa Daily, I ask: How will Samia Suluhu Hassan change Tanzania?

Subscribe to the show on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Tanzanian parliament has confirmed the appointment of Finance Minister Philip Isdor Mpango as the country’s vice-president.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan nominated the minister to the position on Tuesday, which was announced by the parliamentary speaker Job Ndugai ahead of the approval vote.

MPs applauded as his name was mentioned.

Dr Mpango fills in the chair of vice-presidency that became vacant after President Samia became president following the death of President John Magufuli on 17 March.

Addressing parliament immediately after his name was submitted, Dr Mpango said he was surprised and that he was ready to take on the responsibility.

Philip Mpango is an economist who has held various senior positions including as a senior economists at World Bank.

Mr Mpango was among two ministers who were re-appointed by former President Magufuli as he started his second term.

Before being appointed by Mr Magufuli as a finance minister, he served as an economic adviser to former President Jakaya Kikwete.

The minister was last month seen in a viral video coughing during a press conference while paying tribute to senior government officials who had died of suspected Covid-19.

Correction: An earlier version of this story featured an inappropriate headline for a short time. We apologise for any offence caused.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has sent his congratulations to Tanzania's newly inaugurated president, saying he hopes they can work together to tackle coronavirus.

"I look forward to working with you to keep people safe from Covid-19, end the pandemic and achieve a healthier Tanzania. Together!" he tweeted.

Samia Suluhu Hassan has just been sworn-in as the East African nation's new leader - two days after the death of President John Magufuli.

The late president gained international notoriety in the last year for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tanzania has not published details of its coronavirus cases since May, and the government has refused to purchase vaccines despite a plea from the WHO that Tanzanians be inoculated.

Instead, Magufuli called for prayers and herbal-infused steam therapy to counter the virus.

He also mocked the efficacy of masks, something Ugandan writer Charles Onyango-Obbo points out in a tweet is not lost on Gado in his latest political sketch.

The Kenya-based Tanzanian cartoonist shows Magufuli, a devout Catholic, being greeted in heaven by an angel saying: "I'm afraid you can't be allowed in without a mask!"

Questions had been raised about Magufuli's health before his death on Wednesday, which was blamed on heart complications.

He had not been seen in public for more than two weeks and some opposition politicians had said he had contracted coronavirus.

• The cautionary tale of the president who denied coronavirus

AFPCopyright: AFP

Tanzania's newly sworn-in President Samia Suluhu Hassan has spoken of the "heavy load" on her shoulders as she takes over as the country's first female president.

Ms Hassan used her inaugural speech to urge for the "burying of differences" and repeatedly gave assurances of stability.

The president said it was no longer time "to point fingers" and called for unity during the mourning period.

Addressing a packed hall at State House in Dar es Salaam, the new president said she had been sufficiently prepared for the role by her predecessor John Magufuli who died on Wednesday of a "heart condition".

Samia Suluhu Hassan had served as vice-president under Mr Magufuli from 2015 until his death.

She described her predecessor as a patriot who had been committed to transforming Tanzania.

Mr Magufuli had not been seen in public for more than two weeks, and rumours had been circulating about his health - with some opposition politicians saying he had contracted coronavirus.

Loved by his supporters for his no-nonsense approach, he was also a controversial leader, especially over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Read more about Tanzania's new president

BBCCopyright: BBC

Samia Suluhu Hassan has made history as the first female president of Tanzania.

Ms Samia has been sworn in by the Chief Justice Ibrahim Juma at State House in Dar es Salaam.

She becomes the sixth president of Tanzania following Wednesday's death of President John Pombe Magufuli from heart-related complications.

The 61-year-old served as President Magufuli’s deputy from 2015 until his death.

The Tanzania constitution stipulates that she should serve his remaining five-year term.