Tanzania Covid-denying president, John Magufuli, is reportedly critically ill in a Kenyan hospital battling the virus he has repeatedly trivialised.

The 61-year-old president is said to have suffered a cardiac arrest and flown to a hospital in Nairobi for urgent treatment according to a BBC report.

Magufuli has not been seen in public for weeks, sparking widespread speculation about his health and whereabouts. His absence is unusual as he is known for making frequent public speeches and appearing on state television several times a week.

Several opposition members in Tanzania have called on the authorities to release news on the President’s whereabouts and his state of health.

Magufuli has been playing down the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming Tanzania is Covid-free through prayer. He refused to put in place any lockdown measures and has no vaccination plans. However, following the death of some government officials, often without the cause of their death being specified.

His main opponent Tundu Lissu said on Twitter: “It’s a sad comment on his stewardship of our country that it’s come to this: that he himself had get COVID-19 and be flown out to Kenya in order to prove that prayers, steam inhalations and other unproven herbal concoctions he’s championed are no protection against coronavirus!”