Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli is dead, Tanzanian government has confirmed.

In a televised address on Wednesday night, Tanzania vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan said that Magufuli had died of heart complications.

Hassan said that Magufuli was hospitalised on March 6 at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute.

She also announced that the country would get into a 14-day period of mourning as arrangements for the burial are made.

During this period, all flags in Tanzania will fly at half-mast, Hassan announced.

This comes after weeks of speculation on his whereabouts with the suspicion that he had been hospitalised for Covid-19.

Magufuli was born on October 29, 1959 in Chato, Tanzania and has been in office since 2015 as the fifth president.

He has previously served as a deputy minister and minister in previous administrations in Tanzania.

Magufuli was serving his second term that was to run until 2025 after controversially winning the Presidential election in2020

(Report: The Star – Kenya)