Three MPs in Tanzania have died of unknown causes in the last 11 days, prompting the country’s main opposition party to ask its lawmakers to stop attending parliament sessions and isolate themselves.

Freeman Mbowe, the chairman of the opposition Chadema party, has constantly claimed that the government is hiding the true extent of the coronavirus. He has implied the MPs have died from the Covid- 19 disease.

Tanzania’s parliament last month announced that one MP had tested positive for the virus. It’s Minister for Constitution and Legal Affairs, Augustine Mahiga, passed away on Friday, aged 74. The Tanzanian government has not commented on the cause of their deaths, merely issuing statements to declare their passing and to convey condolences.

Mbowe has called on parliament to convene for at least 21 days. He says all MPs, parliamentary staff and their families must be tested.

By Wednesday, in the only update it has given in the past nine days, Tanzania confirmed 480 cases of the coronavirus with 16 deaths. Regular updates were being given until President John Magufuli last week accused the ministry of health of “causing panic.”

Meanwhile, an official, the district commissioner of the Mtwara region in southeastern Tanzania, died on Sunday, from, according to the Tanzanian government, “respiratory challenge”.

Tanzania is one of the few countries in Africa that has not taken widespread measures against the virus, with its president still down playing the gravity of the crisis.

Umm Muhammed Umar