Madagascar. Minister dismissed for wanting to spend 1.8 million euros on candies to disguise the flavor of “Covid-Organics” – Observe …

The Madagascar Minister of Education was dismissed after proposing to spend 1.8 million euros on sweets, to be distributed in schools, with the aim of attenuating the taste of an infusion marketed as a cure for Covid-19.

According to the local media, quoted this Friday by the news agency Efe, Minister Rijasoa Adnriamanana, who has held office since January, was dismissed by order of the Malagasy President, Andry Rajoelina, according to a decree published late Thursday. market.

Although the presidential order does not explain the reason for the dismissal, the presentation of a plan for the purchase of candies worth 8 billion Malagasy ariaris (about 1.8 million euros) to accompany the taking of the infusion “Covid-Organics ”Sparked some controversy in the island country off the southeast coast of Africa.

According to Andriamanana, the project was abandoned after it was rejected by Rajoelina and, according to the now ex-minister, “contrary to what some say, these 8 billion ariaris have not left the coffers of the state”.

In April, Rajoelina announced an herbal drink – including sagebrush, a plant used to treat malaria – which he says works as a way to prevent and cure Covid-19, even though its effectiveness has not been the subject of any published scientific study.

The “herbal tea”, as the head of state of Madagascar calls it, produced by the Malagasy Institute for Applied Research, has already been exported to other African countries.

The most recent data indicate that Madagascar records seven deaths in 957 cases of infection with the new coronavirus, as well as 195 recovered.

In Africa, there are 4,756 confirmed deaths in nearly 170,000 infected in 54 countries, according to the latest statistics on the continent’s pandemic.

Globally, according to a report by the AFP news agency, the Covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 387,000 deaths and infected more than 6.5 million people in 196 countries and territories. More than 2.8 million patients were considered cured.

The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.

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