Observations — Dar es Salaam

Which new structures and practices did we come across through Covid-19? — by Linda Gerlach

There were hardly any new structures that were established in Dar es Salaam when I visited the city. In everyday life the pandemic was basically not visible at all: there were a lot of people on the streets, public transport was packed and the market at Kariakoo, for example, was so crowded that it was almost impossible to pass. Hardly anybody was wearing a mask and keeping a distance was impossible.

Only at some official buildings or health related institutions wearing of a mask was obligatory and water and soap for washing hands was provided before entering the building. In principle this also holds for the university buildings. These suffer, however, from recurrent cuts in general water supply which makes it hard to maintain basic hygienic standards.

The only institution that established quite a lot of new structures is the immigration at the airport and the airport as such. This results in a quite complicated procedure to enter the country with many different posts one needs to pass. This includes

·         the Traveller’s Health Surveillance Form of the Ministry of Health which needs to be completed before arrival (but max. 24h before arrival)

·         a negative PCR test not older than 96 hours upon arrival

From the passengers arriving with the same plane as me, I would guess that less than a quarter had known about these two requirements before arrival. The immigration has thus established barriers for holding people back to fill the Traveller’s Health Surveillance Form, directly next to several counters checking the form and the negative PCR test, directly next to several small tents in which people get tested. The PCR test gets an official seal which gets checked by another two or three posts before arriving at the pass port check.