NAIROBI, Kenya—Tanzania’s president is finally acknowledging that his country has a coronavirus problem after claiming for months that the disease had been defeated by prayer. Populist President John Magufuli on Feb. 21 urged citizens of the East African country to take precautions and even wear face masks—but only locally made ones. Over the course of the pandemic, he has expressed wariness about foreign-made goods, including COVID-19 vaccines. The president’s comments came days after the country of some 60 million people mourned the death of one of its highest-profile politicians, the vice president of the semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, whose political party had earlier said he had COVID-19. The president’s chief secretary also died in recent days, though the cause was not revealed. Magufuli, speaking at the chief secretary’s funeral in a nationally televised broadcast on Feb. 19, urged the nation to participate in three days of prayer for unspecified …