Equatorial Guinea has told a WHO representative based in the country to leave, accusing her of “falsifying” the country’s tally of coronavirus cases, according to the government and the UN health agency, AFP reports.
Equatorial Guinea’s ordered the World Health Organization (WHO) representative Triphonie Nkurunziza, to leave and allow the country deal with their own problems.
In a document dated 26 May seen by AFP on Tuesday, the foreign ministry asked the World Health Organisation’s regional office in Africa “to end the duties” of its representative in Equatorial Guinea, Dr Triphonie Nkurunziza, “and immediately oversee her departure from Malabo.”
The country’s Prime Minister Pascual Obama Asue, while appearing at the Senate last week said Equatorial Guinea has no problem with the WHO.
“”We don’t have a problem with the WHO, we have a problem with the WHO’s representative in Malabo,” he said in remarks on state television.
The AFP also quoted a source at the UN office in the capital, Malabo, as saying: “The government has asked her to go, we have received a document – she is accused of falsifying Covid-19 figures”.
Following this disagreement over the tally of Covid-19 cases, WHO and the government are said to be reporting the same tally of cases now however, Nkurunziza is still in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s island capital, as there are no flights enabling her to leave.
Equatorial Guinea has so far recorded 1,306 cases of the virus with 200 recoveries and 12 deaths.
Burundi also last month ordered WHO officials to leave the country following disagreement over their reporting on the Covid-19 figures.
Discussion about this post