A senior politician has sparked disbelief among Tanzanians by claiming that coronavirus in the country "has ended".

Paul Makonda, the regional commissioner of the country's biggest city Dar es Salaam, called on the public to celebrate in the streets on Sunday. He even told residents which shops had 80%-off sales, so they could buy new clothes for the street party.

His comments go against the World Health Organization (WHO) social distancing advice.

Tanzania stopped publishing figures of daily confirmed cases three weeks ago, raising questions about the true scale of its Covid-19 problem. The United States said earlier this month that Tanzania was widely under-reporting the spread of the virus.

President John Magufuli has also urged the nation to hold three days of prayer from today until Sunday to show gratitude for an alleged decline in cases.

Opposition MP Zitto Kabwe criticised that move, saying it was not true that the number of cases in the country was declining.

There have been 509 reported cases in the country and 21 reported deaths.