Four experts from the World Health Organization, who had reportedly questioned the government’s response to the pandemic, were expelled from Burundi last month.
The president’s wife, Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza, was airlifted to Kenya on May 29 to be treated for COVID-19 at a top hospital in Nairobi, according to Kenyan media. On Monday, local media reported that Mr. Nkurunziza was in hospital with COVID-19. None of the reports were confirmed by the government.
If the link to COVID-19 is confirmed, he would be the first world leader to have died of the coronavirus.
Mr. Nkurunziza, an avid soccer player and sports fan, had attended a volleyball game as recently as Saturday, according to the government statement. On Sunday, he was interacting with people around him, until the sudden worsening of his condition, the statement said.
Burundi has reported only 83 cases of the coronavirus and one death. But at last report, a total of only 382 tests had been conducted in the country of 11 million – one of the world’s lowest rates of testing. There were unconfirmed reports of many deaths from the virus in Burundi.