Tanzania’s 396-kilometre highway connecting the port city of Dar es Salaam and southern regions of Lindi and Mtwara was shut down on Sunday after flash floods washed away at least four main bridges.
“The highway has been closed until further notice,” Joseph Mwasabeja, the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force commander for Lindi region, told Xinhua when reached on phone.
Mr Mwasabeja said the flash floods were triggered by an overnight heavy downpour caused by the tropical cyclone Hidaya before it completely lost its strength after its landfall on Mafia Island earlier on Saturday.
He said the floods washed away bridges over Mbwemkuru, Somanga, Mikereng’ende and Matandu rivers in Kilwa district in Lindi region.
Mohamed Nyundo, Kilwa district commissioner, said the floods also submerged several houses in seven villages, displacing scores of villagers and damaging hundreds of hectares of farm crops.
Read: East Africa braces for hunger, diseases as floods destroy farmland, livelihoods
On Saturday night, the Tanzania Meteorological Authority declared that tropical cyclone Hidaya had completely lost its strength following its landfall on Mafia Island earlier on Saturday.
The tropical cyclone was forecast to hit the country’s Indian Ocean coast regions of Mtwara, Lindi, Coast, Tanga and Dar es Salaam.
At least 155 people have lost their lives in flood and landslides-related incidents in the country.
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Tanzania Declares End of Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak
Tanzania today declared the end of Marburg virus disease outbreak after recording no new cases over 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case on 28 January 2025.
The outbreak, in which two confirmed and eight probable cases were recorded (all deceased), was the second the country has experienced. Both this outbreak, which was declared on 20 January 2025, and the one in 2023 occurred in the north-eastern Kagera region.
In response to the latest outbreak, Tanzania’s health authorities set up coordination and response systems, with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, at the national and regional levels and reinforced control measures to swiftly detect cases, enhance clinical care, infection prevention as well as strengthen collaboration with communities to raise awareness and help curb further spread of the virus.
Growing expertise in public health emergency response in the African region has been crucial in mounting effective outbreak control measures. Drawing on experience from the response to the 2023 Marburg virus disease outbreak, WHO worked closely with Tanzanian health authorities to rapidly scale up key measures such as disease surveillance and trained more than 1000 frontline health workers in contact tracing, clinical care and public health risk communication. The Organization also delivered over five tonnes of essential medical supplies and equipment.
“The dedication of frontline health workers and the efforts of the national authorities and our partners have paid off,” said Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, WHO Representative in Tanzania. “While the outbreak has been declared over, we remain vigilant to respond swiftly if any cases are detected and are supporting ongoing efforts to provide psychosocial care to families affected by the outbreak.”
Building on the momentum during the acute phase of the outbreak response, measures have been put in place to reinforce the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks. WHO and partners are procuring additional laboratory supplies and other equipment for disease detection and surveillance and other critical services.
Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly. Patients present with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. They may develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
In the African region, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
Source: allafrica.com
