Corona threatens to cut fabric tying Kenya, Tanzania

President Uhuru Kenyatta hands a key to Tanzanian President John Magufuli during the official opening of the Namamga One Stop Border Post in 2018. [PSCU]

Covid-19 is reviving frosty relations and bottled-up rivalry between two of the biggest regional economies in East Africa.

A decision by Kenya to close her borders with Tanzania has irked President John Magufuli's administration, and with it all but scuttling decades-old efforts to build a regional bloc.