COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Individual Documents
Description:
"The World Health Organization (WHO) should press four governments that have shut down the internet to minority populations during the Covid-19 crisis to restore internet access, Human Rights Watch and 47 other organizations said.
As part of the KeepItOn Coalition, the group asked WHO Director-General Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab to urge the governments of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan to restore full access to the internet.
The group called on WHO’s Dr. Jakab to urge the governments of India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and any other that shuts down the internet, to restore access to the internet in these regions to enable marginalized communities to enjoy their fundamental right of access to information, a core obligation of states and necessary to achieving the highest attainable standard of health.
It also asked to publicly denounce the use of internet shutdowns as a hindrance to the WHO mission and an acute threat to public health, and encourage governments to recognize the important role of the internet in times of crises.
It further urge to continue to prioritize efforts to increase access to reliable information and encourage active cooperation on the part of the public, by providing the latest news and information on COVID-19, in order to improve the health of all people.
#KeepItOn coalition, is a global network that unites more than 210 organizations from 75 countries that work to end internet shutdowns globally through grassroots advocacy..."
Source/publisher:
"The News International" (Pakistan)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-29
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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"The restriction of sit-in dining at the eateries across Myanmar during the COVID-19 pandemic have let food delivery services ride the waves since a couple of months ago.
Khin Min Shin is one of the risk-takers who want to challenge things in life while making a living.
It has been more than three weeks since Khin joined the riders' team of the foodpanda, an international food delivery chain, the first step of her into the world of unsung heroes for the food lovers of Yangon.
Almost the whole day riding on her bike does not make Khin worried about being infected by the virus. "I'm not afraid of being infected, but afraid of bringing the virus home and get my family infected. So, I'm taking a good care of personal hygiene," Khin told Xinhua.
Although some delivery companies have introduced contactless payment system, the system has not been broadly used by the customers and most customers are still relying on a cash-on-delivery system in the country.
"I try my utmost to follow health measures like physical distancing or using hand sanitizer while delivering meals to the customers," Khin said.
The couriers like Khin have been boosting their energy to work hard in pursuit of prosperous life by staying strong against the crisis which the country is facing.
Khin Min Shin rides 14 to 17 routes daily depending on the orders made by the stay-at-home yangonites.
Taking a break from her trainee life at one of the upscale hotel chains in Yangon, Khin, 20, debuted as a female delivery rider earlier this month, inspired by her aunts who are also running some small delivery services.
"Extent of exhaustion is, of course, different if I have to compare my current rider life and pervious job. But, riding a bike isn't unfamiliar with me and that's what I love to do," Khin recounted her previous hotel staff life with riding a bike to and from her workplace..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-28
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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"Myanmar's Ministry of Commerce is striving to implement a guideline for the better e-commerce system in the country, a government official told E-commerce Virtual Conference on Thursday.
"It is a good time to carry out the process for further development of e-commerce system as the mobile penetration is over 100 percent now in the country," said U Aung Htoo, Deputy Minister of Commerce.
The move comes as the Commerce Ministry has been tasked with facilitating trade, stabilizing prices and providing emergency food under the country's COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP).
Currently, most of the e-commerce businesses are operating informally and the main goal of the ministry is to establish a secure and regulated trading system on the internet in the country, he said.
"The growth of e-commerce business in Myanmar will help to boost the communications between traders and customers and also to connect businesses both locally and internationally," he added.
It is also learnt that the Commerce Ministry supported the establishment of Digital Economy Association and E-commerce Association so as to develop e-commerce system in the country..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-28
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"Schools in Myanmar will reopen in July, beginning with basic education high schools on July 21, followed by primary and middle schools two weeks later.
The Department of Basic Education said this would include private and monastic schools.
The Private School Teachers' Association said schools would need to strictly follow instructions from the ministry and relevant agencies.
According to reports in Myanmar Times, previously, the Education Ministry had planned to reopen primary schools first but decided against doing so after the public expressed concerns.
During a video conference on May 12, state Aung San Suu Kyi said schools must reopen as soon as possible but with the necessary changes to comply with Covid-19 regulations.
"Schools have to reopen. It won't be easy if we wait to reopen schools only after the disease is controlled," she told officials.
She said while some developed countries had begun implementing online learning programmes, Myanmar was not ready to adopt these measures.
Following this, an announcement for schools to reopen was issued by the Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment on Covid-19.
Detailed rules on how to reopen have been issued. The guidelines include maintaining a minimum 1.8m social distance.
Private schools have expressed difficulties regarding class spaces. They suggested allowing them to teach in the expanded classes instead of inside the classroom with a glass divider..."
Source/publisher:
"New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-28
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Sub-title:
Prison Time for Breaking Curfew, Quarantine Is Excessive and Unsafe
Description:
"At least 500 people, including children, returning migrant workers, and religious minorities, have been sentenced to between one month and one year in prison in Myanmar since late March 2020 for violating curfews, quarantines, or other movement control orders, Human Rights Watch said today. Myanmar authorities should stop jailing people for Covid-19-related infractions.
Most have been sentenced under the National Disaster Management Law, Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases Law, and various penal code provisions. Authorities have charged hundreds more in cases that are ongoing or resulted in fines. Imprisoning people for violating curfews, quarantine, and physical distancing directives is almost always disproportionate as well as counterproductive for reducing threats to public health. “Limiting public health risks through social distancing is crucial, but jailing people for being outside at night just adds to everybody’s risk,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Throwing hundreds behind bars in crowded, unhygienic prisons defeats the purpose of containing the spread of Covid-19.” In March and April, national, state, and local authorities announced several directives and restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus. Measures include a mandatory 28-day quarantine for foreign arrivals, nighttime curfews, a ban on gatherings over five people, and several township-level lockdowns. On March 28, government media announced that “those breaking public health order can face jail time.… The Covid-19 pandemic is also a natural disaster, and those who do not comply with the law can face fines and even prison time.” Local authorities oversee enforcement and criminalization of violations, with wide variations across the country..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-28
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Burmese authorities are using COVID-19 response measures as a pretext to harass and extort Rohingyas.
Description:
"This is what life is like for the 130,000 internally displaced Rohingyas trapped in detention camps in central Rakhine state in Myanmar: in the camps, they have no future, with little access to land or livelihoods. They depend on foreign aid supplies and die of treatable diseases because of limited access to healthcare. Shelters, built in 2012 to last two years, have deteriorated. Most children can only attend basic classes at temporary learning spaces.
Burmese authorities are using COVID-19 response measures as a pretext to harass and extort Rohingyas and are doubling down on a system in which they are already effectively incarcerating the population. Rohingyas in the camps told Human Rights Watch that military and police forces regularly subject them to harassing physical punishment at checkpoints. One Rohingya woman said the police made her do sit-ups for 30 minutes for not wearing a mask through a checkpoint, after which she was too exhausted to move. Another man witnessed people being forced to perform squats at a checkpoint with their hands on their ears.
Last week, the government of Myanmar delivered its much-anticipated first report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — following the court’s unanimous January 23 provisional measures order — explaining what it has done to protect the 600,000 ethnic Rohingyas in Rakhine state, whom a United Nations-backed fact-finding body said remain under threat of genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-28
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" Myanmar's Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population has provided social security benefits to a total of 26,305 workers of factories, workshops and workplaces affected by the restrictions against COVID-19 pandemic, said a ministry's release on Tuesday.
"During the period of COVID-19 crisis, some factories and workshops had to shut down due to their own difficulties while some had to temporarily close for inspections by the authorities as part of health measures. We are doing this to show support to them," U Myo Aung, permanent secretary of the ministry, told Xinhua.
As part of a move to contain the spread of COVID-19, all local factories had to close from April 20 to May 15 for mandatory inspections by the ministry concerned.
Workers from those factories who registered for social security under the Social Welfare Program will receive 40 percent of their salaries for the unemployed days in accordance with the Social Security Law, the ministry's release said.
Meanwhile, Myanmar authorities offered employment to over 9,300 local people in regions and states in April, down from over 24,000 in March due to the COVID-19 crisis, the ministry's figures said.
The ministry also announced suspension of sending migrant workers abroad and the issuance of employment contracts and overseas employment identity cards last month, as part of COVID-19 containment measures..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-27
[field_licence]
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Sub-title:
In an effort to meet the current exigencies faced by Myanmar as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar Government had, on 27 April 2020, launched the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan. The COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan comprises seven goals, 10 strategies, 36 action plans and 76 actions, each with an estimated timeline and designated authority in charge, covering a range of fiscal and social measures.
Description:
"In brief
In an effort to meet the current exigencies faced by Myanmar as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar Government had, on 27 April 2020, launched the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP). The CERP comprises seven goals, 10 strategies, 36 action plans and 76 actions, each with an estimated timeline and designated authority in charge, covering a range of fiscal and social measures.
Key Takeaways
Businesses in Myanmar should consider the various financing options and tax deferrals/waivers that may be applicable to their operations but also be mindful of possible conditions attached to those relief measures. For example, it appears that companies applying for loans under the government credit guarantee scheme would have to undertake to retain or rehire their employees but there are currently scant details on whether the employers can adjust the salaries or the moratorium period in which they are prohibited from dismissing their employees.
Foreign investors who have been looking at the Myanmar market may take the opportunity to seek fast-track approvals of their investments into the country, in particular for reputable international firms as well as companies in the promoted areas of renewable energy and strategic infrastructure, delivery and logistics services, healthcare, including the manufacturing of medical-related products, and digital payment services..."
Source/publisher:
"Global Compliance News"
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-27
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"Number of COVID-19 positive cases reached 206 in Myanmar as of Tuesday, according to the Health and Sports Ministry.
Three more people, who were under quarantine after recent arrival from India, tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
According to the ministry's figures, a total of 124 patients have recovered.
A total of 20,322 samples have been tested and six deaths were recorded since the disease was first detected in Myanmar on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-27
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Title: Over 2,300 Myanmar nationals brought home by relief flights amid COVID-19 travel restrictions
Description:
" A total of 2,326 Myanmar nationals who were stranded in foreign countries due to the suspension of international commercial flights amid COVID-19 outbreak have been brought back home by relief flights so far, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday.
"More Myanmar nationals from Thailand, Singapore, India and Korea will arrive soon this month," an official from the Consular and Legal Affairs Department under the ministry told Xinhua.
Plans are underway to bring more nationals back home from other foreign countries, the official said.
All returnees have to stay under quarantine at designated facilities or hotels in Yangon region for 21 days upon arrival.
According to the Health and Sports Ministry, Myanmar has reported 201 COVID-19 cases with six deaths as of Monday morning..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-27
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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"At least 25 more people in Cox’s Bazar, including four Rohingyas refugees, tested positive for Covid-19 between Sunday and Monday morning, according to sources in Cox’s Bazar Medical College Hospital.
Of the new samples from 90 people, which were tested at the hospital’s laboratory, 25 tested positive and 69 negative, confirmed Dr Md Shahjahan Nazir, an associate Professor at the hospital.
With the new patients, a total of 381 people have so far tested Covid-19 positive in different areas of Cox’s Bazar district, and 29 of them are Rohingyas living in refugee camps.
Four people have died and 64 people recovered from the disease so far in the district..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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" Xie Jian left Myanmar more than a month ago, but still gets messages from his peers in the Southeast Asian country asking about the prevention and control of COVID-19.
"I get inquiries about how to enhance prevention and control and how to apply traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the fight against COVID-19," the TCM expert who went to Myanmar to fight the epidemic said. Xie was part of a group of 12 medics from China who were sent to the neighboring country to help deal with the outbreak in April.
During their 15-day stay there, the medics held more than 60 training sessions in more than 40 hospitals and laboratories, interacting with experts and local medical staff.
One of the major responsibilities of Xie, a doctor with the Yunnan Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in southwest China's Yunnan Province, was to share his experience in the fight against coronavirus through TCM.
"Through training and communication, we showed how to fight the epidemic with TCM and its effects," he said, adding that officials and medics were quite interested in how TCM battles the disease.
"Experts in Myanmar believe that traditional medicine in Myanmar is similar to TCM, which could prevent or eradicate illnesses," Xie, the only TCM practitioner in the Chinese team, said. During the stay, the TCM medication he was carrying became quite popular, he said.
Though a busy doctor, Xie did not hesitate to join the team when he heard China was sending medics to Myanmar.
"Though my family was a little worried about the epidemic, they were quite supportive," Xie said. "It was an honor to join the team."
Xie lauds relations between China and Myanmar. After the epidemic broke out in China, people from Myanmar sent help. When confirmed cases were reported in Myanmar, China increased support to the country.
"As the two countries fight together, we can protect our people from the impact of COVID-19," he said.
China donated a nucleic testing lab to Myanmar, the equipment for which was taken by the medical team to the country. China has so far donated more than 160,000 nucleic testing kits, over 3.97 million surgical masks and about 50,000 protective suits to Myanmar.
After the epidemic broke out, authorities from Yunnan's Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture that borders Myanmar held a series of meetings with their counterparts in the neighboring country to discuss ways to battle the outbreak. They also donated medical supplies to Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
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Individual Documents
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"Some 15,000 Rohingya refugees are now under coronavirus quarantine in Bangladesh's vast camps, officials said on Monday (May 25), as the number of confirmed infections rose to 29.
Health experts have long warned that the virus could race through the cramped settlements, housing almost a million Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar, and officials had restricted movement to the area in April.
Despite this, the first cases in the camps were detected in mid-May.
"None of the infections are critical. Most hardly show any symptoms. Still we have brought them in isolation centres and quarantined their families," Toha Bhuiyan, a senior health official in the surrounding Cox's Bazar area told AFP.
He said narrow roads to three districts of the camps - where the majority of the infections were detected - have been blocked off by authorities.
The 15,000 Rohingya inside these so-called blocks faced further restrictions on their movement, he said. It comes as charity workers expressed fears over being infected in the camps as they worked without adequate protection.
Two of the areas under isolation are in Kutupalong camp, home to roughly 600,000 Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Sub-title:
As COVID-19 shutdowns spike unemployment, the labour body's Guy Ryder discusses how governments can protect workers.
Description:
"he coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we live.
Nearly every country in the world has been affected. There have already been millions of infections, and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
And while scientists work on developing a vaccine, governments are focusing on reducing the number of infections through social distancing and other preventive measures.
But these restrictions have brought with them countless financial losses across the globe. The coronavirus recession is considered to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of 1929.
As COVID-19 measures halt international trade, shut down airports and leave businesses bankrupt, tens of millions of people have lost their jobs. And for many, being unemployed in the middle of a pandemic means not only losing their income but also losing access to healthcare.
So, how can governments protect their workers and rebuild their economies?
The director-general of the International Labour Organization (ILO)..."
Source/publisher:
"Talk To Aljazeera"
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Labour Organisation (ILO), COVID-19 (Coronavirus), International labour standards and mechanisms
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Sub-title:
Even as factories close and many people stay home, air pollution in Yangon has remained stubbornly bad, and the agriculture sector may hold the answer.
Description:
"It has been described as a silver lining of COVID-19 – albeit one that is likely to be temporary.
Stay-at-home orders and factory closures due to pandemic have resulted in vast improvements to air quality in many of the world’s largest cities, including Wuhan in China, where the pandemic originated late last year. The Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air has even estimated that declines in air pollutants may have prevented 11,000 deaths across Europe.
But in Yangon, there has been much less change to air pollution levels in recent months. At times, the city has had among the worst air quality in the world, according to monitoring sources such as Air Quality Index and PurpleAir.
The main sources of the particulate matter that contribute to air pollution in Yangon include vehicles, factories, generators, smoke from cooking fires – especially those using charcoal – and the burning of rubbish.
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As in other cities, though, social distancing and other precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Yangon mean that fewer people are travelling to work, leading to much less traffic on the roads, and many factories have closed. The stubbornly poor air quality readings suggest that these are not the key causes of poor air quality, at least during the March to May hot season.
Air Quality Yangon, managed by a group of students from American University Yangon, is a platform that aims to create awareness about air pollution in Yangon, mainly on social media. Each day it posts two updates to Facebook using data collected from air quality sensors installed at different sites throughout the city, and information reported from a reference grade monitor at the United States embassy..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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"No confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in Rohingya camp as of 19 April 2020. However, six COVID-19 positive cases were reported from host community in Cox’s Bazar.
WHO is leading the health sector and working together with ISCG, providing technical support and guidance to partners setting up Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) facilities. The health sector confirmed commitment from seven identified partners to support the rapid establishment of 11 SARI isolation and treatment centers(ITCs) in the camps and nearby host population as of 18 April 2020.
A Standard Operating Procedure of COVID-19 surveillance and contact tracing draft with key elements to assess the risk effectively, has been finalized and shared with Epidemiology working group (WG) members...As per UNHCR report of March 2020, there are 859 808 Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar. This includes 34 917 refugees from Myanmar who registered before 31st August 2017. All Rohingyas, including new arrivals, face compounding vulnerabilities, including in health. WHO has been responding to this crisis since September 2017. A summary of response actions from epidemiological weeks 13 to 16 of 2020 is presented below..."
Source/publisher:
World Health Organization (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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289.94 KB
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Sub-title:
Authorities put camps under lockdown but failed to provide adequate food, masks, hand sanitizers, says head of NGO
Description:
"Rakhine state, a conflict-torn region in western Myanmar, finally reported the presence of COVID-19 as the country recorded nearly 200 cases late this week.
Two men in Rakhine, who recently returned from Malaysia, tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about the possible spread of the virus in overcrowded camps across the region.
“Now we have two patients, and imagine the situation in overcrowded camps once a refugee gets infected,” said San Kyaw Hla, who chairs the Rakhine regional parliament.
“Sittwe, [capital of Rakhine] has overcrowded camps, but IDPs [internally displaced persons] still don’t have a chance to adopt protective measures,” he told Anadolu Agency.
“This virus is indiscriminate. It won’t spare anyone, regardless of race and religion.”
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs this February, Sittwe housed 103,557 out of 130,886 Rohingya Muslims, who were displaced by communal violence in mid-2012, in 16 makeshift camps.
More than 700 ethnic Rakhine recently arrived in Sittwe as they fled fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, a mainly Buddhist group that claims to fight for the rights of ethnic Rakhine.
Ongoing and escalating fighting displaced more than 164,221 civilians, mostly ethnic Buddhists, in 10 townships in Rakhine state since January 2019, according to the Rakhine Ethnic Congress (REC), a local non-profit.
“There were only around 30,000 displaced people last April, and now the number exceeds 160,000,” said REC Secretary Zaw Zaw Tun.
“People are fleeing their homes to escape the fighting that is happening on a daily basis,” he told Anadolu Agency..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Description:
"After weeks of waiting at the closed border, hundreds of Myanmar migrant workers returned home from Thailand. The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered factories across Southeast Asia, leaving tens of thousands without jobs. Southeast Asia has reported 194,072 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of May 24. India has the highest number of cases in Asia with 131,868..."
Source/publisher:
"China Global Television Network (CGTN)" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-25
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Thailand-Burma relations
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"Faced with the threat of a coronavirus pandemic which could have devastating effects in a country with poor health infrastructure, Myanmar’s government and many ethnic armed organisations have taken steps to put aside their ongoing conflict to fight a common enemy.
Myanmar has so far tested more than 17,000 people for Covid-19 and identified 199 confirmed cases out of a population of 54 million. Along the country’s northeastern border with China, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of dozens of organisations which have been engaged in on-off conflict with the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) for decades, started making preparations against the coronavirus in February. It established a Covid-19 prevention committee, started importing test kits from Singapore and China, initiated social distancing policies and public health campaigns, and built handwashing stations and quarantine facilities.
No cases have yet been reported in KIO-controlled areas but if they arise, patients will be sent to the KIO hospital in its headquarters of Laiza, which has 50 ICU beds and 10 ventilators.
The KIO and Myanmar officials had no formal communication relating to Covid-19 response planning until April 27, when the government announced a committee to engage with certain ethnic armed organisations including the KIO to fight the pandemic..."
Source/publisher:
"South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, China-Burma relations
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Sub-title:
The Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) is being criticised by the business community over a recent tender for solar power, with key foreign investors pressing for more time to prepare bids and for tough conditions to be revised.
Description:
"The tender, issued by the ministry’s Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE) on May 18, invites companies to bid for the construction of 30 ground-mounted solar plants capable of generating 1060MW of power in total under a 20-year build, operate and own basis. That’s about one third of the total dry-season generation capacity of Myanmar.
The proposed solar sites are in Ayeyarwady, Bago, Magwe, Mandalay, Sagaing, Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon’s Shwepyithar township. The announcement comes after the government released its COVID-19 economic relief plan in late April. The plan includes expediting “solicitation of renewable energy projects after monitoring cost developments to assess the quality of available deals” before the end of 2020. But European and US business groups say the one-month deadline is too tight to meet given the COVID-19 travel restrictions as well as time needed for land documentation.
Myanmar has banned international flights until June 1, imposed strict facility quarantine measures for business travellers and may extend the flight ban by decree. So, prospective developers cannot visit the country, make investment decisions or inspect the sites before bidding.
The deadline is difficult to achieve particularly because of the land acquisition requirement, commented Nishant Choudhary, a Yangon-based partner at law firm DFDL.
Even for developers established in Myanmar, the schedule “poses a great challenge” to complete the preparation of bid, valuation, land documentation and other necessary work, “particularly in the backdrop of COVID situation, where most of the international players have temporarily relocated from Myanmar to their home country. Also, those interested cannot fly into Myanmar,” he said.
According to a draft letter to the government seen by The Myanmar Times, the business groups are planning to ask for the deadline to be extended by at least two to three months..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Renewable energy Myanmar, Sustainable/alternative development in and for Burma, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Sub-title:
Crowded population, violation of social distancing rules contributing to rapid spread of virus in camps, says official
Description:
"Bangladesh’s crammed Rohingya camps are threatened with the coronavirus outbreak as the infection tally rose to 21 with eight new cases reported on Friday, a government official said on Saturday.
The first COVID-19 case in the world’s biggest refugee camps was recorded on May 14 and it took one week to push the infection tally to the second digit mark.
Mahbubur Rahman, the government civil surgeon in Cox’s Bazar, told Anadolu Agency that the high density of population and frequent violation of social distancing rules in the crowded Rohingya camps are responsible for the spread of the pandemic.
“Twenty-one infections in the packed camps of over one million people is not at all a big figure. We are trying to sort out the immediate contacts of the new infected to isolate them,” Rahman said.
He added: “Despite various preventive measures, virus transmission in Rohingya camps is continuing as social distancing rules are being violated.”
Since the novel coronavirus was first reported in China last December, human rights bodies and experts have been warning over possible rapid spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh’s packed camps if once the virus is transmitted there.
Bangladeshi authorities repeatedly assured wholeheartedly of preventive measures to stem the contagion in the camps..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Description:
"The number of COVID-19 confirmed cases reached 201 with more than half of the patients having recovered as of Saturday morning, according to figures from the Health and Sports Ministry.
Two returnees in Chin state, who were under quarantine after their recent arrival from Malaysia, tested positive on Saturday.
Myanmar reported its first two confirmed cases of the disease on March 23.
A total of 17,875 samples have been tested in the country. Of the total confirmed patients, 116 have recovered and six deaths have been recorded, according to the ministry's figures.
"We found that 61 percent of the confirmed patients are asymptomatic, which is quite worrisome. At present, we can say that the situation in our country is under control and the health authorities are trying their utmost in contact tracing and in cutting chains of transmission," Director Than Naing Soe of Health Knowledge Promotion Division under the ministry, told Xinhua.
With accelerating efforts, everyone needs to continue joining hands in long-term COVID-19 battle, the director said.
Regionally, Yangon region registered the most COVID-19 cases of 156, while no case has been detected in Kayah state.
Union Minister Dr. Myint Htwe for Health and Sports told a recent parliamentary meeting that the testing capacity of COVID-19 will be boosted starting next month.
At present, the samples are being tested at laboratories in Yangon..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Local URL:
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Description:
"“I feel that I can support my people to protect them from Coronavirus by listening to their worries and giving them information.” – Noor Ahmed****, a Rohingya woman outreach volunteer. She is one of many Rohingya women volunteers at the frontline of the COVID-19 response who are sharing prevention messages in their communities and producing protective masks. Rohingya women like Noor have noted their appreciation for the opportunity to support their communities to prevent the spread of COVID-19, particularly as they are able to leave their homes and relieve the tension and anxiety of the pandemic situation confirmed cases of COVID19 in the Rohingya refugee camps.
4 confirmed cases of COVID19 in the Rohingya refugee camps. 199 confirmed cases in the District
44,972 WASH facilities and public buildings were disinfected in the camps and host communities
243,775 individuals in the camps and host community participated in community engagement activities on COVID-19
100 % nutrition frontline staff and volunteers in the camps and host community were oriented on COVID-19
38,801 students in the District received high energy biscuits as part of a school feeding programme
11 May a consultation paper by UN Women and IOM was published on Rohingya community social dynamics and COVID-19..."
Source/publisher:
Search Results Web results Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
345.36 KB - reduce version
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Description:
"The government in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has formally inaugurated first two Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centres (SARI ITCs) of Covid-19 in Cox’s Bazar for Rohingyas and host Bangladeshi communities there.
These two SARI ITCs, one located within Camp 5 of Kutupalong Rohingya camp and the second in Ukhiya Upazila, will serve the needs of almost 200 Covid-19 suspected patients suffering from moderate to severe symptoms, according to a press release issued by UNHCR on Thursday. This is part of a broader humanitarian effort by all partners in Cox’s Bazar to provide support to the government in combating Covid-19 and to ensure capacity to respond the clinical needs of those with the most severe symptoms. Additional resources and support including personal protective equipment (PPE) has already been provided to the existing national health care facilities in Cox’s Bazar district as well as to primary health centres within the Rohingya camps.
UNHCR will also soon complete the preparation of an 18 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Cox’s Bazar sadar hospital, with 10 ICU beds and eight high dependency beds, as well as providing staffing, for those with the most severe needs, the release added..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar is preparing to help citizens stuck in Thailand to return home while a large group of Indians have flown home on a special flight.
The Interior Ministry has permitted stranded Myanmar workers to return home via the Thai–Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Tak's Mae Sot district.
Chatchai Promlert, permanent secretary for the Interior Ministry, said the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration had agreed to open the bridge, although other crossings remain closed for now. Mr Chatchai said those who wish to cross the border must show a letter of guarantee issued by the Myanmar embassy in Thailand, or one of the Myanmar labour offices in Chiang Mai or Ranong.
The travellers are required to present either the physical letter itself or show a copy of it on their mobile phone to border security personnel. More Rohingya migrants detained in Mae Sot
Illegally cut teak seized in Mae Sot
Myanmar editor jailed for Covid error
Travellers are also required to present themselves at the border checkpoint before 3pm each day, said Mr Chatchai, who added that a coach service runs to the border from Mo Chit 2 Bus Terminal in Bangkok every evening
Tak provincial governor Ansit Samphantharat also told media that about 27,000 Myanmar workers in Bangkok and adjacent areas have submitted requests to the Myanmar embassy in Thailand asking for permission to return to their country.
The Transport Co will provide 10 coaches which will cover the Bangkok-Mae Sot route to transport Myanmar workers from Mo Chit 2 Bus Terminal to the Mae Sot border checkpoint, stopping only at Nakhon Sawan Bus Terminal..."
Source/publisher:
"Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Thailand-Burma relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
First case of COVID-19 confirmed in Rohingya refugee camp
Description:
"The Government of Bangladesh should utilize existing quarantine facilities for Rohingya refugees potentially exposed to COVID-19 and suspend its use of Bhasan Char island for refugees, said Fortify Rights today. Bangladesh authorities confirmed yesterday the first case of COVID-19 in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar District.
Bangladesh authorities are currently holding in quarantine at least 300 Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char, a poorly equipped, flood-prone island located off the coast of mainland Bangladesh. On May 7, the Bangladesh Navy transferred to Bhasan Char Rohingya survivors found on board a ship adrift in the Bay of Bengal. Five days earlier, on May 2, Bangladesh authorities detained and transferred to the island 29 Rohingya survivors who escaped from a ship after making payments to the traffickers in exchange for their release.
Fortify Rights believes that at least one more ship with up to 500 Rohingya refugees on board remains stranded at sea. On May 2, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen announced to the media, “Any new Rohingyas, if there are, will be sheltered at the Bhasan Char.”
Fortify Rights interviewed a Rohingya survivor and four family members of survivors sent to Bhasan Char on May 2 as well as humanitarian aid workers.
“My daughters are now on Bhasan Char,” said “H.K.,” a Rohingya father in Kutupalong camp. “They told me [by mobile phone] they are having difficulties and they were crying. They said they are very much afraid to stay [on the island].”
The Government of Bangladesh first proposed the idea to relocate Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char in 2015. Dhaka eventually developed the island and planned to relocate refugees beginning in 2018 but repeatedly postponed relocation plans after consistent outcry and concern from Rohingya, governments, U.N. experts, and human rights and humanitarian organizations. In an open letter to Prime Minister Sheik Hasina on November 12, 2019, Fortify Rights and 38 other organizations called on the government to facilitate a U.N. technical assessment to ensure the arrangements on the island meet international standards before proceeding with relocations. The government has yet to facilitate such an assessment and questions remain about the arrangements on the island..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Rohingya Refugees are being fenced in and communication blocked, just as coronavirus cases are confirmed in camps, MPs hear
Description:
"The crowded and unsanitary conditions in the Rohingya camps are likely to confound efforts to stop coronavirus spreading, warns the International Development Committee in its report, Humanitarian crises monitoring: the Rohingya.
Most countries around the world are relying on social distancing to contain coronavirus. The population density of the refugee camps for the Rohingya makes this impossible. Overcrowding at service distribution points and the lack of washing facilities make efforts to control a possible outbreak difficult. Further, with a severe shortage of PPE and isolation beds, and no ventilators in the region, there is little help that cases can be effectively treated.
The Rohingya also have no access to online information on avoiding infection and are unable to easily report symptoms to medics, due to a ban on internet access and owning SIM cards by the Bangladesh authorities. The Committee also received reports of fences being built around and between the camps, potentially further restricting access to services and to each other.
International Development Committee Chair, Sarah Champion MP, said:
“The suffering of the Rohingya has moved us all, and as they face coronavirus, I find myself wondering, when will they get a break?
“They have been suffering for far too long in crowded, stressful and often unsanitary camps – conditions perfect for coronavirus to thrive. The UK Government must continue to lead the international response to support the Rohingya and apply its diplomatic muscle to preventing a humanitarian catastrophe..."
Source/publisher:
Govt. UK (London)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
330.12 KB
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Sub-title:
The pandemic has laid bare a broken system
Description:
"This edited article by Thammachart Kri-aksorn is from Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand, and is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The Thai Ministry of Labour has invoked an Emergency Decree to prohibit labor strikes and lockouts during the COVID-19 outbreak. Any labour disputes will be now be transferred to the Labour Relations Committee appointed by Chatumongol Sonakul, the Minister of Labour.
The order entered force on May 6.
Under normal circumstances, Thai law allows strikes and lockouts for irreconcilable disputes, except in essential infrastructure industries. The government can intervene only when the country is under martial law or an emergency decree, or when the Minister of Labour rules that labor disputes may affect the economy or public order, such as is the case at the moment.
The order was issued in an attempt to mitigate surging unemployment resulting from government measures taken to control COVID-19. On May 13 the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare called for business owners to consider labour relations principles before laying off employees, including alternative cost-cutting and improved human resources management..."
Source/publisher:
"Global Voices"
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Labour migration: global and regional studies, All Labour Rights (violations)
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"The Myanmar government has been planning to reopen basic education schools in the middle of July, an official from the Education Ministry said on Thursday evening.
Myanmar's academic year starts in June after three-month summer holidays from March to June, but this year's term will start a month later.
"We have some concerns over COVID-19, on the other hand we need to prepare not to affect children's education, and participation of parents are much needed," Tin Maung Win, deputy director-general of Basic Education Department under the ministry, told an online press conference.
In cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Sports, the Ministry of Education has been carrying out preventive measures against COVID-19 at basic education schools and parents are asked to help their children cope with epidemic preventive measures at home, he said.
At present, there are over 48,000 basic education schools across the country and some are being used as quarantine facilities.
As of Thursday, Myanmar has reported a total of 199 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with six deaths, according to latest figures released by the Health and Sports Ministry...."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
COVID-19 and longstanding restrictions on humanitarian aid hamper landmine-survivor support
Description:
"The Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups should end the use of landmines and the Government of Myanmar should lift restrictions on humanitarian aid groups providing life-saving support to landmine survivors in ethnic areas affected by ongoing war, said Fortify Rights today. Since January 1, 2020, landmine explosions in Myanmar have reportedly killed or injured at least 68 civilians, while longstanding government-imposed restrictions on aid groups coupled with new COVID-19-related restrictions hinder access to essential aid and services. Fortify Rights spoke with ten organizations, including six local-led humanitarian groups, working to address landmine casualties in conflict zones in Kachin and northern Shan states, all of whom report a near total halt to their regular activities. Landmines killed or injured at least 26 civilians in Kachin and northern Shan states this year.
“There was a mine explosion in Moemeik [in Mongmit Township, Shan State], and we could not help the person for two reasons,” Lwar Hlar Reang the General-Secretary of Ta’ang Student and Youth Union (TSYU) based in Lashio, northern Shan State, told Fortify Rights. “The first is the military prevents people from coming and seeing that person . . . The second reason is that it is difficult for us to travel right now because of the coronavirus.”
TSYU is a civil society organization that provides essential assistance to survivors of landmine explosions. Describing their work, Lwar Hlar Reang said: “Some [landmine survivors] need transportation in order to get to the hospital, some people need medical help and are in need of an operation. We provide transportation and clothes for the operation.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reports and maps covering anti-personnel landmines and Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Shan State - general articles, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Highlights:
• On behalf of the United Nations, WFP organized the first two aid flights linking Yangon and Kuala Lumpur to bring in humanitarian cargo and personnel.
• WFP has provided food and nutrition assistance to 12,740 people under quarantine in Kayin, Mon, Shan and Yangon, as requested by the authorities.
• WFP is supporting the Government of Myanmar in distributing a cash assistance top up for pregnant and lactating women and children aged 6-23 months in internally displaced persons camps in Kachin and Shan states.
Situation:
• According to the Ministry of Health and Sports, there are 199 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Myanmar as of 21 May, including six fatalities. Two confirmed cases were recently reported in Rakhine State.
• To curb the spread of COVID-19, the Government of Myanmar has extended restrictions including the prohibition of gatherings of five and more people, the closure of preschools and the suspension of international commercial flights until 31 May.
Source/publisher:
World Food Programme (WFP) (Rome) via reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
WFP (World Food Programme), COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
131.75 KB
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Description:
"Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed hope that Myanmar will speed up cooperation with China to implement its ambitious infrastructure projects in the country during a recent call with Myanmar President U Win Myint.
In the phone conversation on Wednesday, Xi said that he is expecting the two sides will cooperate closely and speed up the implementation of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that were agreed to during his visit to Myanmar earlier this year.
During Xi’s visit to Myanmar, both sides agreed to speed up the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) backbone projects including the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in western Rakhine State, New Yangon City in Myanmar’s commercial capital and Cross-Border Economic Cooperation Zones in Shan and Kachin states.
He branded all three projects as crucial pillars of the CMEC that are needed to deepen “result-oriented BRI cooperation” and move from “the conceptual stage to concrete planning and implementation” of building the CMEC.
In January, the two sides inked a concession agreement and shareholders’ agreement for Kyaukphyu SEZ, a letter of intent on the development of Yangon City and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate negotiations around the Ruili-Muse Cross-Border Economic Cooperation Zone.
Among the backbone projects, the Kyaukphyu SEZ is crucial for China, as it is expected to boost development in China’s landlocked Yunnan Province and provide China with direct access to the Indian Ocean, allowing its oil imports to bypass the Strait of Malacca.
The two sides signed an agreement on CMEC in 2018 and the corridor is part of the BRI, Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy project. Unveiled in 2013, the international plan is also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The project aims to build a network of roads, railroads and shipping lanes linking at least 70 countries from China to Europe, passing through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia and fostering trade and investment..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
“One Belt, One Road” initiative, Burma's economic relations with China, Other Special Economic Zones, China-Burma relations, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China stands ready to work with Myanmar and other countries to continue to support the World Health Organization (WHO) playing a leading role in the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a phone conversation with his Myanmar counterpart, U Win Myint, Xi also called for concerted efforts to firmly uphold international fairness and justice as well as the basic norms in international relations, and jointly win the battle for global public health.
Recalling that after the coronavirus disease broke out in China, the Myanmar government and all sections of society extended a helping hand to the Chinese side, Xi said the outbreak in Myanmar is pulling at the heartstrings of the Chinese people. The Chinese side has donated multiple batches of anti-epidemic supplies to Myanmar and sent two groups of medical experts to fight side by side with Myanmar medical workers, he added.
That, he pointed out, has fully demonstrated the "Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship of standing together and helping each other between the people of the two countries, and vividly illustrated the spirit of a community with a shared future that features China and Myanmar sticking together through thick and thin.
China will continue to provide firm support and as much assistance as its capacity allows for the Asian neighbor in line with the latter's needs, Xi said, adding that he is confident that the Myanmar people will eventually overcome the epidemic..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), China-Burma relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"China will continue to support Myanmar and Bangladesh to fight the COVID-19 pandemic at its best in terms of medical supplies and teams of medics based on their needs, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday during separate phone calls with Myanmar's President U Win Myint and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Xi pointed out that the government of Myanmar and various sectors of its society have supported China during the most crucial time of China's fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.
China has also donated a number of anti-epidemic medical materials to Myanmar and sent two batches of medical experts to fight side by side with Myanmar's medical staff, and China will continue to provide firm support and help within its capabilities based on Myanmar's needs.
Xi stressed that this year marks the 70th anniversary of China and Myanmar's diplomatic relations, noting that he visited Myanmar in January and hopes that these two countries can work closely to implement the results of the visit..."
Source/publisher:
"CCTV" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), China-Burma relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Conflicts have paused in much of Myanmar, opening a window for the government, military and ethnic armed groups to pursue a holistic response to the coronavirus. The parties should also work together in Rakhine State, where fighting persists, to limit the disease’s spread.
Description:
"What’s new?...Amid a lull in fighting in much of the country, the Myanmar government and ethnic armed groups appear willing to put aside politics and work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The exception is Rakhine State, where conflict is escalating, putting medical workers at risk and exacerbating a potential health disaster.
Why does it matter?...Conflict-affected areas of the country are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 but often outside state control. A successful response to the pandemic will require close coordination among the government, the military and ethnic armed groups, many of which have long run their own health systems. What should be done? The government, military and ethnic armed groups should work together to combat the virus through prevention, surveillance, testing and referrals. In Rakhine, they should ensure the safety of health workers, enable access to displaced populations and strengthen COVID-19 prevention messaging...Overview
A major COVID-19 outbreak could have devastating consequences in a country as conflict-affected as Myanmar, where health spending is limited, governance is weak, hundreds of thousands of people are displaced by fighting, and the government cannot reach many areas held by ethnic armed groups. Reducing transmission as much as possible so that the health system can better cope will require cooperation with these groups, many of which run their own health systems. Promising discussions that have already begun between the government and various ethnic armed groups should continue in earnest to enable a holistic response in areas of the country where conflict is presently limited. The exception is Rakhine State, where fighting continues to escalate between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army, undermining prevention efforts and putting the lives of health workers at risk. Here, all sides should ensure the safety of medical personnel, allow humanitarian access to displaced and other vulnerable populations, and work to improve public adherence to mitigation measures..."
Source/publisher:
"International Crisis Group (ICG)" (Belgium)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Deadly and disruptive as it already is, and terribly as it could yet worsen and spread, the 2020 coronavirus outbreak could also have political effects that last long after the contagion is contained. Crisis Group identifies seven points of particular concern.
Description:
"Overview:
The COVID-19 pandemic unquestionably presents an era-defining challenge to public health and the global economy. Its political consequences, both short- and long-term, are less well understood.
The global outbreak has the potential to wreak havoc in fragile states, trigger widespread unrest and severely test international crisis management systems. Its implications are especially serious for those caught in the midst of conflict if, as seems likely, the disease disrupts humanitarian aid flows, limits peace operations and postpones or distracts conflict parties from nascent as well as ongoing efforts at diplomacy. Unscrupulous leaders may exploit the pandemic to advance their objectives in ways that exacerbate domestic or international crises – cracking down on dissent at home or escalating conflicts with rival states – on the assumption that they will get away with it while the world is otherwise occupied. COVID-19 has fuelled geopolitical friction, with the U.S. blaming China for the disease while Beijing tries to win friends by offering aid to affected countries, exacerbating existing great-power tensions that complicate cooperation on crisis management.
It is not yet clear when and where the virus will hit hardest, and how economic, social and political factors may converge to spark or aggravate crises. Nor is it guaranteed that the pandemic’s consequences will be entirely or uniformly negative for peace and security. Natural disasters have sometimes resulted in the diminution of conflicts, as rival parties have had to work together, or at least maintain calm, to focus on preserving and rebuilding their societies. There have been a few signs of governments trying to ease political tensions in the shadow of COVID-19 with, for example, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait offering Iran – centre of one of the worst initial outbreaks outside China – humanitarian assistance. If the pandemic is likely to worsen some crises internationally, it may also create windows to improve others..."
Source/publisher:
"International Crisis Group (ICG)" (Belgium)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
At present, fears that China is using the pandemic to exert excessive pressure and push through BRI projects in Myanmar are exaggerated.
Description:
"With the COVID-19 pandemic past its peak in China, attention has turned to the Chinese government’s deployment of “COVID diplomacy.” This term frames how China’s government is sending medical supplies and personnel across the world — including to Myanmar — to build goodwill and show global leadership in fighting the pandemic. Some Southeast Asian observers say it is an overt propaganda campaign, with others going further and warning of the region’s acceptance of Chinese government soft power.
For Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partners, some view China’s government are using such soft power to push through projects that may not be in the recipient’s best interests. In Myanmar, some saw Chinese Ambassador Chen Hai’s May 6 meeting with Deputy Minister for Planning, Finance and Industry U Set Aung regarding the implementation of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) project — which falls under the BRI — as an attempt to push such projects through.
The discussions took place soon after Myanmar released its COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP), which was published on April 27. The CERP details the country’s short- and medium-term plan to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic and includes stipulations to expedite the solicitation of strategic infrastructure projects, as well as approve and disclose large investments by reputable international firms that are experiencing delays.
For the time being in Myanmar, however, fears that China’s government is using the pandemic to exert excessive pressure and push through BRI projects are exaggerated. The suspicion surrounding Chen Hai’s meeting is questionable given that discussions were on projects for which MoUs had been signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Myanmar in January this year, the first such visit by a Chinese leader in 19 years.
Indeed, the acceleration of the BRI in Myanmar was already underway before the global ramifications of the COVID-19 outbreak were known. Ahead of his arrival in Myanmar in January, Xi called for the “deepening of results-oriented Belt and Road cooperation and [to move projects] from a conceptual stage to concrete planning and implementation in building the CMEC.”
During Xi’s visit, the Kyaukphyu SEZ and deep-sea port, Myanmar-China border economic zones, and New Yangon City developments were described as the “three pillars” of the CMEC. These were the three projects reportedly discussed during Chen Hai’s May 6 meeting. Certainly, the Chinese government will be hoping to improve its image to ease BRI project implementation. Projects may be accelerated to mitigate the expected economic downturn in Myanmar. Yet, there has been no major shift in BRI project implementation because of the pandemic. Given the scale of BRI projects and importance to Myanmar’s economy, it would have been astonishing if such a meeting had not taken place soon after the CERP was released..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
“One Belt, One Road” initiative, Burma's economic relations with China, China-Burma relations, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar authorities are preparing a project plan regarding preventive measures and response to COVID-19 for street children, according to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement on Wednesday.
"Our plan can't cover the whole country in present fiscal year and as an initial step, we will start our plan in the cities with most street children like Yangon and Mandalay," Dr. Tun Zaw, deputy director general of the rehabilitation department under the ministry, told Xinhua.
Adding that efforts are being exerted to produce an effective plan, the authorities are trying to know what the street children need or what kind of support should be given to them while the awareness plans are underway to convert the preventive measures and instructions issued by the Health and Sports Ministry into the words and usages that the children can relate to, he said.
A negotiation meeting relating to the project plan was held on Tuesday to work on the protection, rehabilitation and response to COVID-19 for street children community.
During the meeting, discussions were made focusing on access to water sanitation, personal hygiene, nutritious diets for street children and their families, awareness campaign for COVID-19, vocational assistance, provision of masks, hand gel and other assistances to the street children during the period of virus outbreak in the country.
Myanmar has reported a total of 193 confirmed cases for COVID-19 with six deaths as of Wednesday morning, according to figures released by the Health and Sports Ministry..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Children
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Dozens of confirmed cases traced back to service held by Myanmar-born David Lah
Description:
"Myanmar police have arrested a Canadian pastor for allegedly holding a service in defiance of a coronavirus ban on mass gatherings – after which he and dozens of his followers and their families became infected.
The south-east Asian nation has so far only confirmed 193 cases and six deaths from the disease, although experts fear the true figures could be far higher.
The Myanmar-born preacher, David Lah, 43, is based in Toronto, Canada, but often visits his motherland to give sermon tours.
Myanmar introduced a ban on mass gatherings in mid-March.
Footage emerged early April showing Lah leading services in which he claimed Christians would be spared from the pandemic.
“If people hold the Bible and Jesus in their hearts, the disease will not come in,” he told a roomful of faithful followers.
“The only person who can cure and give peace in this pandemic is Jesus.”
Shortly afterwards Lah tested positive with coronavirus and figures released by the government show dozens of confirmed cases could be traced back to his followers.
Myo Gyi, lead singer of Myanmar’s most famous rock band Iron Cross, was among those infected.
After emerging from quarantine, Lah was arrested on Wednesday morning and taken to a Yangon court, where he was charged with violating the Natural Disaster and Management Law.
He could face three years in prison if convicted.
“The police procedure was delayed because he was recovering from the disease,” a police officer told AFP.
Three others will also face charges in connection with the same events when they recuperate, he added.
The scandal even touched Myanmar’s Christian vice-president, Henry Van Thio, and his family, who had attended an earlier service with Lah in February, although they later tested negative.
About 6% of Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s population identifies as one of the various Christian denominations in the country..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Inter-Communal violence and discrimination - Myanmar - General articles and analysis
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Myanmar authorities said on Tuesday (May 19) said they have found eight coronavirus cases among scores of people who returned from Malaysia, where the authorities have recently been detaining undocumented migrants.
Myanmar officials said the new cases were detected in five different places from among 120 people who flew home from Malaysia this month.
"All of them are in quarantine," Ministry of Health spokesman Than Naing Soe told Reuters, referring to the 120 people.
Myanmar has reported 191 cases of the coronavirus and six people have died.
Malaysian immigration authorities detained more than 1,800 migrants in at least two raids as part of its efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, officials there said.
But the raids have raised concerns that vulnerable people will go into hiding and increase the risk of coronavirus infection in overcrowded detention centres.
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Malaysia's health ministry said it had received a report of one coronavirus case among Myanmar nationals who were repatriated, but from a group of 473 people detained before the government imposed a coronavirus lockdown on Mar 18.
Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah told a news conference that all detainees were now being screened for the coronavirus..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Malaysia-Burma relations
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Sub-title:
Deforestation, Illegal Logging
Description:
"As COVID-19 spreads and paralyzes many industries, Myanmar continues to see a flood of illegal logging. On April 9, two weeks after the country confirmed its first case of the coronavirus, the country’s Forest Department announced that authorities seized over 840 tons of illegal timber in the course of a single week.
Much of the timber logged illegally in Myanmar is transported overland to China, in violation of both countries’ domestic laws. Despite disruptions to overland trade, the illicit industry now continues—driving deforestation, threatening local livelihoods and supporting organized crime.
Logging is a profitable business in Myanmar, home to much of the world’s remaining teak supply. The trade was a major source of revenue for the country’s military dictatorships and linked to years of human rights violations by the country’s military, especially in conflict areas like Karen State and around development projects like oil and gas pipelines. The military provided security for international energy firms like Chevron and Total and took the opportunity to use forced labour and extortion to turn a profit on teak and other valuable timber.
Under the country’s new democracy, the trade continues to be the target of accusations of corruption and rights violations. State-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE) has run the logging industry since 1989. Recent investigations allege that MTE is involved in a system of bribery and subcontracting that allows illegal exports of mislabeled teak, violating both Myanmar law and laws in the European Union and US on timber imports.
Regardless, illegal logging continues to drive deforestation, deeply impacting the country’s ecosystems and threatening local livelihoods. High profits from the illegal trade also make it difficult to address the role of natural resources in Myanmar’s civil wars, as ethnic armed groups and communities across the country emphasize “resource federalism” and local control of water and land..."
Source/publisher:
"ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
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Description:
"This page includes information and guidance from the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the current outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic that was first reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU) (Yangon)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Description:
"၁။ အမျိုးသားကျန်းမာရေးဓာတ်ခွဲမှုဆိုင်ရာဌာန (ရန်ကုန်) (NHL) မှ ဒုတိယအသုတ်အဖြစ် ဓာတ်ခွဲနမူနာ (၂၃၉) ခုအား (၁၈-၅-၂၀၂၀) ရက်နေ့ ညပိုင်းတွင် စစ်ဆေးပြီးစီးခဲ့ရာ -
• COVID-19 ရောဂါ ဓာတ်ခွဲအတည်ပြု လူနာသစ် (၃) ဦးတွေ့ရှိရပါသည်။
၂။ (၁၉-၅-၂၀၂၀) ရက်နေ့၊ နံနက် (၇:၀၀)နာရီအထိ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် COVID-19 ရောဂါ ဓာတ်ခွဲ အတည်ပြုလူနာ (၁၉၁) ဦးရှိပြီဖြစ်ပါသည်။
၃။ ဓာတ်ခွဲအတည်ပြု လူနာဟောင်းများတွင် ရောဂါပိုးကင်းစင်လာသူ စုစုပေါင်း (၁၀၁)ဦး ရှိပါသည်။
၄။ ဓာတ်ခွဲအတည်ပြုလူနာများအနက် သေဆုံးသူ (၆)ဦး ရှိပါသည်။
၅။ (၁၈-၅-၂၀၂၀) ရက်နေ့တွင် ဆေးသုတေသနဦးစီးဌာန (DMR) မှ ဓာတ်ခွဲနမူနာ (၁၇၀) ခုနှင့် အမျိုးသားကျန်းမာရေးဓာတ်ခွဲမှုဆိုင်ရာဌာန (ရန်ကုန်) (NHL) မှ ဓာတ်ခွဲနမူနာ (၄၂၇) ခု၊ စုစုပေါင်း (၅၉၇) ခုအား စစ်ဆေးခဲ့ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Health and Sports (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
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Sub-title:
The first COVID-19 case has been found in Rakhine State at 8pm on May 18, according to the health ministry.
Description:
"Case-188 is a 35-year-old man who lives in Thandwe township in Rakhine State and a returnee from Malaysia. The man was tested positive while undergoing a facility quarantine in Thandwe. He has now been admitted to the Thandwe General hospital for treatment.
This marks the fifth case, starting with Case 184, where repatriates who returned to Myanmar after working in Malaysia have tested positive. The National Health Laboratory tested 188 persons and the Department of Medical Research in Yangon Region tested 170 persons suspected of being infected with the virus in the latest batch. Moreover, four more COVID-19 patients are on the road to recovery after recent tests showed no remaining signs of the virus.
The first and second patients, Case-36 and Case-48, who are on the road to recovery are from Insein and South Okkalapa townships in Yangon and both of them were infected while attending a religious ceremony in Insein. Their test results have returned negative twice.
The third and fourth patients on the road to recovery, Case-88 and Case-114, are both from Kalay township in Sagaing Region. They were infected Case-1, a US green card holder from Tedim township, Chin State.
From January 31 to May 18 at 8 pm, the government tested 14,561 people for the disease, the health ministry said..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Description:
"• 187 cases have been confirmed with six fatalities and 97 recoveries across the country, with a relatively low rate of new cases in the last two weeks(37 cases since 1 May). As of 18 May, there has been no confirmed case in camps or displacement sites for internally displaced people (IDP) or in communities affected by conflict.
• Around 80,000 migrants have returned since March, according to initial estimates by IOM, although the number is difficult to verify.
• WFP has launched weekly humanitarian relief flights between Kuala Lumpur and Yangon. Suspension of regular international flights will continue through 30 May.
• Myanmar Armed Forces announced unilateral ceasefire until end of August to coordinate COVID-19 response (excluding Rakhine and Chin states).
• COVID-19 response and preparedness coordination with ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) is ongoing in Kachin and Shan by Government Committee for Coordinating and Cooperating with EAOs for Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19, including cooperation on border control measures and provision of government funding to support EAO-run quarantine center in Kachin..."
Source/publisher:
OCHA "New York) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.17 MB - reduce version
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Description:
"Myanmar’s aquaculture and fisheries sectors are suffering from the collapse in the export trade that has accompanied the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EU and North America account for about 45 percent of Myanmar’s aquaculture and fisheries exports – which were forecast to be worth $750 million in 2020 - while China and Thailand account for the remaining 55 percent. “Exports have collapsed. All international orders have been cancelled and we have not received any new orders from the European Union (EU) since they are all locked down,” U Myo Nyunt, secretary of the Myanmar Fisheries Products Processors & Exporters Association (MPEA), told the Myanmar Times.
The drop in demand will affect businesses throughout the seafood supply chain. “At first, those operating cold storage facilities did not have any income and some had to shut down. Now, factories are not allowed to open and jobs are dwindling,” said Nyunt.
With losses mounting in April and May, the MPEA expects fishing and aquaculture activities to grind to a halt from June to August, while the aquaculture sector could face longer disruption if farmers are unable to restock during this time.
As a result, the MPEA is projecting the largest loss in history for the sector for the six months between March and August and the industry is now calling on the government for more aid..."
Source/publisher:
"The Fish Site"
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"The total number of COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has risen to 191, with three more confirmed cases reported on Tuesday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.
The ministry also reported one confirmed case of COVID-19 late Monday.
Of the newly confirmed cases, the two patients are from Rakhine state while one each from Magway and Ayeyarwady regions, the release said.
According to the release, all patients were under quarantine as they had travelling history in the past 14 days.
According to the ministry's release, 101 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
Myanmar has reported six deaths of COVID-19 disease as of Tuesday since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
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Sub-title:
Despite ominous predictions, there are few signs of a disastrous spread of COVID-19, while the capacity to control and treat the disease is increasing with each day.
Description:
"When the World Health Organization issued its first COVID-19 situation report, on January 21, a total of 282 people had been infected by the virus, including 258 in Wuhan, China – the epicentre of the pandemic – and 24 in Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
Myanmar was not mentioned until the 64th WHO situation report, after the country’s first two confirmed cases were reported on March 23.
In the 56 days to May 17, Myanmar had reported 187 confirmed cases, six deaths, the recovery of 97 patients, and 84 active cases. Myanmar has had fewer confirmed cases than many other countries and, despite limited testing, the spread of the virus seems outwardly to be under control.
However, some observers, particularly form outside Myanmar, have not been optimistic about Myanmar’s capacity to control and contain COVID-19. They point to a range of vulnerabilities, including Myanmar’s long border with Chin"a, the 320,000 Chinese tourists who visited Myanmar last year, and the large numbers of people that cross Myanmar’s borders both informally and formally. Myanmar also has many over-crowded camps for people displaced by war, including in Rakhine and Kachin states, where armed conflict continues and the number of people in IDP camps continues to rise. Because of these factors, they cautioned, the virus could spread disastrously in Myanmar. They also said the relatively low number of infections that have been detected in Myanmar might simply be because of low testing capacity. But are the prospects for a COVID-19 outbreak as ominous as their grim predictions?...
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
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Description:
" စာသောက်ဆိုင်များ ပြန်လည်ဖွင့်လစ်ရာတွင် လိုက်နာဆောင်ရွက်ရမည့် အချက်များ..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Health and Sports (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Size:
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Sub-title:
Two tested positive on Saturday , one on Sunday
Description:
"At least another three Rohingyas from the camps in Cox’s Bazar have tested positive for coronavirus, worrying government officials and host communities.
Of the three new infected persons, two tested positive on Saturday and the other one was found infected on Sunday, according to two government sources.
With the new cases, the number of infected Rohingyas, who live in a very congested situation, stands at 4. The Rohingya camps, home to nearly a million persecuted people from Myanmar, reported their first Covid-19 case on Thursday.
“We have got three more positive cases in the Rohingya camps – two on Saturday and one today (Sunday). The total number is now 4,” Kamal Hossain, deputy commissioner (DC) of Cox’s Bazar, told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday night.
Dr Anupam Barua, principal of Cox’s Bazar Medical College where the testing took place, told this correspondent: “Yes, two Rohingyas tested positive on Saturday and one on Sunday.”
“But, I am not sure whether the total number of infected is four or five. You better call the civil surgeon for confirmation,” he said.
On Thursday, it was initially reported that two Rohingyas had tested positive, but it turned out later that one Rohingya and one Bangladeshi from the host community had tested positive..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
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Sub-title:
The government ordered all schools used as quarantine facilities to be closed and returned to the Ministry of Education no later than June 16, in preparation for the beginning of the school year.
Description:
"The Union Government Office said the 6021 schools now used as quarantine facilities need to be disinfected before classes start in July.
"According to the letter, the schools will reopen on July 15,” said U Maung Win, deputy director of the Basic Education Department. “They might have given this instruction to get ready." On May 12, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that schools cannot be closed permanently due to COVID-19. She also opposed internet-based teaching, saying that even in developed countries, online schools have a lot of problems. She ordered education officials to follow the COVID-19 prevention measures issued by the Health Ministry.
She urged education officials to also address overcrowding in schools, noting that students must maintain social distancing..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
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Description:
"16,880 migrants returned from China from 16 April to 13 May
12,788 migrants returned through Nan Taw, Chin Shwe Haw and Mongla in Shan State
4,092 migrants returned through Kan Paik Ti and Lwegel border gates in Kachin State
SITUATION OVERVIEW
Starting in April, the number of migrants returning from China through border gates in Kachin and Shan States has been increasing, with 16,880 returns from 16 April to 13 May. The major entry points also seem to be shifting from Kachin to Shan State, mainly to Muse and Chin Shwe Haw border checkpoints.
Returns from Thailand through official channels remain low, due to the extension of travel restrictions as part of emergency measures. Few returns were observed in April, however, 481 returns occurred through official border crossings in Myawaddy and Tachileik, from 1 to 13 May. An additional 200 people returned through relief flights from Bangkok in the last 7 days.
The Government of Myanmar is preparing for a second wave of returns from Thailand of up to 150,000 migrants returning through Kayin and Mon states and Tanintharyi region. Thailand is also starting to ease the lockdown and migrants moving in both directions may create challenges in terms of planning a response.
131 migrants also returned from Lao PDR through Won Pang checkpoint in Shan State, on 8 May..."
Source/publisher:
International Organization for Migration (IOM) ( Switzerland) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), IOM Burma/Myanmar
Language:
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Size:
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Description:
"A total of 90 Myanmar migrant workers returned through the Friendship Bridge No 2 in Myawaddy on 17 May, the 17th consecutive day since the government resumed accepting returnees on 1 May amidst the spread of COVID-19, state media reported.
A total of 720 workers have returned home so far since 1st May.
According to statistics, the authorities accepted 60 workers on 1 May, 54 on 2 May, one on 3 May, 44 on 4 May, 23 on 5 May, 100 on 8 May, 44 on 10 May, 13 on 11 May, 41 on 12 May, 16 on 13 May, 38 on 14 May, 120 on 15 May, 76 on 16 May, and 90 on 17 May respectively. Local authorities are closely supervising the process of accepting the returnees in line with the COVID-19 fighting guidelines..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Migration from Burma: mixed and general articles and reports, Thailand-Burma relations
Language:
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Description:
"Since the first case of COVID-19 was found in Chin State on March 29, businesses have closed and many working poor are now unemployed. Government handouts of food supplies were gratefully received but are quickly running out.
What is in store for the next few months for the people of Chin?..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Chin State, Urban development, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
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Sub-title:
The on-going specter of COVID-19 demonstrates that no country is immune from global disaster and no one can self-isolate. When the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus as a pandemic, Dr. Henry Kissinger opined that the coronavirus pandemic will forever alter the world order. Many pundits stress any post-coronavirus world order should renew our recognition of our inter-connectivity and inter-dependence. That leads us to reaffirm our commitment to placing the planet’s long-term interests ahead of short-term political expediency.
Description:
"Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his recent op-ed in NYT dated on April 28, underscored the importance of not losing sight of the big picture and connectedness of issues. He eminently highlighted the nexus between the coronavirus and climate change.
He reiterated that climate disruption is becoming the new normal, human conduct is also leading to severe biodiversity loss, changing animal-human interaction and distorting ecosystem processes that regulate our planetary health. We should take heed of the Secretary-General’s sobering warning that we are approaching a point of no return for human health, which depends on planetary health. The famous disaster movie “Contagion” screened in 2012 is a chilling reminder, as it bore a striking resemblance of the killer virus’ transmission structure; from a bat, and intermediate body and finally to humans. Yet, more importantly, the film concluded by warning that unless human’s destruction of the climate and natural habitats stops, the reappearance of more deadly epidemics is just a matter of time. Indeed, it is startling to see infectious diseases of global magnitude, including SARS, H1N1, Ebola, Mers, Zika, occurring at disturbingly reduced intervals..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Climate Change - Burma/Myanmar: general, COVID-19 (Coronavirus), South Korea-Burma relations
Language:
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Description:
"Myanmar's Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment of the COVID-19 will provide cash assistance to needy citizens as part of the COVID-19 economic relief plan, a government official told a press briefing on Saturday.
Negotiations are being carried out between the National-level committee led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and respective ministries to directly disburse cash to the people in need through online payment system, said Zaw Htay, spokesperson of the President's Office.
The cash assistance program, which is set to start in two or three weeks, is the second batch of the government's assistance for the needy citizens since the first batch of provision of basic essentials including rice, oil, salt, bean and onion to those struggling amid the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic last month.
Under the previous assistance, the government used 50.84 billion kyats (36.3 million U.S. dollars) from state fund to provide basic essentials to a total of 3.99 million households, the spokesperson said.
As of Saturday, Myanmar has reported 182 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 with six deaths, according to the figures from the Health and Sports Ministry..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Working on prevention messaging with UN, partner communities and local health authorities
Description:
"As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread globally, developing countries with internally displaced populations, high labor migration, and weak health systems are especially vulnerable. In response to these challenges in Myanmar, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is collaborating with partners on the front line of prevention campaigns in Rakhine, Chin, and Kayin states.
With limited testing available in Myanmar and only one existing diagnostic lab in the country, there are fears that the pandemic may be spreading invisibly. LWF partner communities, including migrant source communities in border areas and camps for internally displaced populations (IDPs) are especially at risk.
LWF is working in the field with over 220 partner communities, including IDP camps, and is collaborating closely with state, township, and local authorities to respond quickly and compassionately to the pandemic. This includes reallocating resources in response to requests from partner communities and health authorities.
In remote Chin State, LWF has assisted the Mindat Department of Health in educating the public about how to protect themselves and others. In addition, the health department has requested assistance in procuring necessary medical equipment and supplies.
Kayin State is facing an influx of migrant workers from neighboring Thailand, and many returning to communities in Hlaingbwe and Kyainseikgyi townships lack basic knowledge about the disease, while also downplaying the importance of self-quarantine. Hence, LWF is working with health authorities to disseminate local-language information, encouraging communities to take simple preventative measures. The authorities have also requested assistance with procuring medical equipment and supplies.
In Ann Township, Rakhine State, while raising awareness in partner communities, LWF is also meeting with the township health department for emergency preparation, community awareness, and procurement needs..."
Source/publisher:
Lutheran World Federation via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Food security concerns in Myanmar are looming as farmers are unable to start the new growing season due to COVID-19 disruptions.
Description:
"“Since COVID-19, there is no longer usual trading as crops simply don’t sell anymore,” said Ba Myint, a farmer in Taungup township in southern Rakhine State, where the primary crops are rice and beans.
The price of produce has crumbled, and at times there were no buyers even when the price was slashed by 75 percent, he told this newspaper. Ba Myint’s plight underscores the struggles farmers across the nation are now facing. Travel restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have led to lower sales for farmers and resulted in significant losses for those who rely on loans. That has strangled their ability to plant this season, leading to a near collapse of Myanmar’s agricultural economy. The planting of monsoon rice - accounting for 80pc of Myanmar’s paddy crop production - typically begins in late April with harvests in September and October. But as government loans have paused and microfinancing institutions have suspended operations, many farmers have been unable to raise money to invest in this growing season.
Myanmar is now at risk of missing the entire season of production unless agricultural activities and access to finances resumes within the next two weeks. Worse, experts warn there could be a severe food shortage in six months if farmers are unable to start planting before the monsoon arrives..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
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Description:
"...This book was a project developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG). The project was supported by global, regional and country based experts from Member Agencies of the IASC MHPSS RG, in addition to parents, caregivers, teachers and children in 104 countries. A global survey was distributed in Arabic, English, Italian, French and Spanish to assess children’s mental health and psychosocial needs during the COVID-19 outbreak. A framework of topics to be addressed through the story was developed using the survey results. The book was shared through storytelling to children in several countries affected by COVID-19. Feedback from children, parents and caregivers was then used to review and update the story..."
Source/publisher:
"Inter-Agency Standing Committee"
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), E-books and other resources in Burmese, Online Books - general lists
Language:
Format :
PDF
Size:
3.31 MB
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Description:
" Myanmar authorities have brought 1,847 nationals stranded in foreign countries back home as of Friday night, a senior official of the Foreign Affairs Ministry told Xinhua on Saturday.
"The fourth batch of Myanmar nationals in Singapore will arrive back today and arrangements are being carried out to repatriate more nationals from countries such as South Korea, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Australia, the Philippines and India in the near future," said Director-General Aung Kyaw Zan of the Consular and Legal Affairs Department under the ministry.
Most recently, a total of 131 stranded nationals from South Korea, the United States, Britain, Italy, Qatar, Indonesia and Vietnam were brought back home by relief flights late Friday, according to the ministry's release.
The ministry has been working with Myanmar embassies in foreign countries and local ministries concerned to bring back citizens stranded abroad due to the suspension of international commercial flights, in accordance with the guidance of the National-Level Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19, the release said.
Meanwhile, the ministry recently announced the further extension of the effective period of travel restrictions till the end of May, aiming to strengthen measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
Language:
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Description:
"The Ministry of Health and Sport reported a new COVID-19 positive case in Myanmar on May 16 at 7 am, taking the total number of COVID-19 patients in the country to 182.
Case 182, aged 32, had returned from Malaysia and was completing a mandatory 21-day quarantine at a government center where he tested positive. He lives in Htantlang township in Chin State and has been admitted to a station hospital at Htantlang for treatment. It is unclear if Case 182 was part of 391 illegal Myanmar migrants repatriated by the Malaysian authorities on May 11.
The National Health Laboratory tested 267 other persons suspected of being infected with the virus but all the results were negative. From January 31 to May 15 at 8 pm, the government tested 12,995 people for the disease. The COVID-19 count in Myanmar to date is 182, with six deaths and 89 recoveries, according to the health ministry data.
So far, there are seven COVID-19 patients from Chin State - five from Tedim, one from Hakha and one from Htantlang township.
Two out of seven patients in Chin State are on the road to recovery after recent tests showed no remaining signs of the virus. This include Case 1, a 36-year-old US green card holder who returned to Myanmar and tested positive on March 23.
No cases have been found yet in Kayin, Tanintharyi, Ayeyarwady, Rakhine, and Kayah Regions and States.
Aid groups said there are an estimated 500,000 documented and illegal Myanmar migrant workers in Malaysia.
Last week, a total of 16 Myanmar citizens who were charged and punished for petty crime in Thailand also returned to the country via the Thailand-Myanmar No.2 Friendship Bridge at Myawaddy on May 13, said Kayin State Hluttaw MP U Thant Zin Aung..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-16
[field_licence]
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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"Myanmar on Thursday announced the extension of effective period of COVID-19 related orders, announcements and directives issued by respective ministries till May 30 to contain the spread of the virus.
The extension will be applied to Myanmar government's temporary entry restrictions for visitors from all countries, the suspension of all types of visas, stay-home period, the restriction of organizing public events, the restriction of mass gatherings with five or more people, nighttime curfews and the restriction on operation of all international air services at Yangon International Airport.
The effective period was first set to expire on April 30 and it was once extended to May 15.
Yangon region's COVID-19 Control and Emergency Response Committee has also informed all the district administration departments about the extension, U Naing Ngan Lin, Yangon region's social affairs minister told Xinhua.
"The main reason is to avoid mass gatherings. That's why the extension is needed in order to keep under control the spread of COVID-19," he said.
He said the extension of effective period doesn't apply on the notification issued by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population on May 3, which includes relaxation of allowing the essential businesses and public services to continue their operations while factories and workshops are to be prepared in accordance with the directives issued by the Health and Sports Ministry..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-15
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"The United Nations and its partners are supporting the Myanmar government to ensure the safety of frontline health workers battling COVID-19, said a spokesman on Thursday.
A project by the UN Office for Project Services, with the support of donor governments, is providing personal protective equipment to the country's health ministry, health care providers and communities, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and its partners are supplying surgical masks and other paraphernalia to maternal health facilities in the capital, as well as to other states. The UNFPA is also providing supplies to midwives and helping to train health workers on how to treat pregnant women during the pandemic, he told a virtual press briefing.
UN Women and its partners are helping women to transition their livelihood activities toward mask production. This project has a production capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 masks per week, he said..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-15
[field_licence]
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"After Myanmar confirmed its first coronavirus infection in late March, the residents of one village in the country’s northwestern Sagaing region sprang into action.
They built bamboo tents to serve as quarantine centres, banned non-essential movement in and out, and put townsmen on guard at the main entry in rotating three-man shifts.
The small community of about 200 households had no choice but to defend itself. It has little contact from the government, according to Kyaw San Win, a 40-year-old community leader, and no access to modern health care facilities or state funding for medical supplies and equipment.
“We decided to stand on our own feet to fight against this pandemic,” he said. “We don’t rely on public health services.” The situation at Ngwetha Ywar Thit is playing out across the country as people take matters into their own hands in protecting themselves against the coronavirus. The Southeast Asian state, which was ruled for decades by a military junta, lacks the kind of health care infrastructure it would need if the disease spread widely.
The government, led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, has taken steps to fight the virus. It began a partial lockdown in April, banned gatherings of more than five people, and stopped international commercial-passenger flights until May 15. The nation’s most populated regions have made wearing masks mandatory..."
Source/publisher:
"South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-14
[field_licence]
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"The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
KAMPALA -- Uganda has reported 13 new cases of COVID-19, taking its total to 139, Health Minister Ruth Aceng said Wednesday.
Of the 1,741 samples collected from truck drivers, 13 have tested positive for the virus, Aceng said in a tweet, adding that the new cases involved seven Ugandans, five Kenyans and an Eritrean.
- - - -
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan reported 38 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising its national tally to 1,082.
Mademin Karataev, the country's deputy health minister, said that among the newly infected, seven are medical workers, raising the total number of medical workers diagnosed with COVID-19 to 248, with 192 recoveries.
- - - -
YANGON -- Over 500 Myanmar parliamentarians are being tested for the COVID-19 in shifts starting from Thursday, a parliamentary official told Xinhua.
"Health screenings and COVID-19 tests are being carried out for the lawmakers for two days," said Director-General Kyaw Soe of the Office of the Union Parliament..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-14
[field_licence]
Type:
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Sub-title:
Myanmar extended a ban on international commercial air traffic until the end of this month on Thursday (May 14) to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Description:
"The ban, first introduced on March 30 and extended by decrees since then, would now extend from May 15 to May 31, according to a memo to airlines from the civil aviation department and signed by its director general U Aung Kyaw Tun.
The decision was made by the National Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19, the memo said.
The country has recorded 181 cases of COVID-19 and six deaths as a direct result of the virus, according to data from the health ministry released on Thursday. The government has imposed restrictions on movement, including a night curfew and semi-lockdown measures in parts of the country, and ordered factories to halt operations until receiving approvals from official health inspectors..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-14
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Description:
"After Myanmar confirmed its first coronavirus infection in late March, the residents of one village in the country’s northwestern Sagaing region sprang into action.
They built bamboo tents to serve as quarantine centers, banned nonessential movement in and out, and put townsmen on guard at the main entry in rotating three-man shifts.
The small community of about 200 households had no choice but to defend itself. It has little contact from the government, according to Kyaw San Win, a 40-year-old community leader, and no access to modern health care facilities or state funding for medical supplies and equipment.
“We decided to stand on our own feet to fight against this pandemic,” he said. “We don’t rely on public health services.”
The situation at Ngwetha Ywar Thit is playing out across the country as people take matters into their own hands in protecting themselves against the coronavirus. The Southeast Asian state, which was ruled for decades by a military junta, lacks the kind of health care infrastructure it would need if the disease spread widely.
The government led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has taken steps to fight the virus. It began a partial lockdown in April, banned gatherings of more than five people, and stopped international commercial-passenger flights until May 15. The nation’s most populated regions have made wearing masks mandatory.
But for many people in the country, these measures aren’t enough. In the commercial capital of Yangon, hundreds of volunteers are leading a community-wide lockdown, barricading the roads of Myanmar’s most densely populated city. Local residents guard the streets, while other people spray disinfectants..."
Source/publisher:
"Japan Times" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-14
[field_licence]
Type:
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"The Access to Health Fund, funded by the United Kingdom, Sweden, United States and Switzerland and managed by the UN’s Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is supporting the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS), ethnic health providers and communities with the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In April, over 150,000 surgical gloves and more than 500,000 surgical masks were procured to help protect frontline healthcare workers. An additional 2,000 person/days of PPEs will be handed over to the Ministry soon. Furthermore, UNOPS’s Access to Health Fund plans to provide at least 50,000 coveralls in mid-May to support MoHS and ethnic health providers in Myanmar’s conflict-affected areas.
With support from the Women and Girls First (WGF) Programme, funded by Australia, European Union, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Italy, and the Access to Health Fund, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has also provided protective supplies, including 12,000 surgical masks, hand sanitizers, face shields and PPEs to Maternal Reproductive Health Division of the Department of Public Health in Nay Pyi Taw. Additionally, a total of 1,500 PPE kits have been provided for State Health Departments in Kachin, Kayin, Mon, Shan and Rakhine states.
UNFPA supports the MoHS to keep health systems functioning and plans to provide a further 3,000 PPE kits for midwives to maintain the provision of sexual and reproductive health and rights services. This will be the first phase of PPE support to midwives, in addition to making available training resources for COVID-19 adapted service provision to pregnant women..."
Source/publisher:
"United Nations" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-14
[field_licence]
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Sub-title:
Having just obtained insurance licences with four other foreign insurers last November, AIA is operating in full swing. And the coronavirus is not slowing them down.
Description:
"“There's no during the crisis or after the crisis, I feel like we're still moving at 100 miles an hour,” said Luc Nhon Ly, chief executive officer of AIA Myanmar.
COVID-19 has forced a large part of AIA’s operations online, and this has allowed customers to purchase life insurance through their online platform.
The Hong Kong-headquartered insurer was among the first five fully foreign-owned firms to receive life insurance licences last November.
Mr Ly said it has not been easy, but he continued to observe the potential for growth.
“In everything that we do, especially in the new market, there will be challenges, but the potential is there, and we can see all the positive early signs,” he added.
AIA has a solid presence in Yangon with around a thousand agents in its salesforce. It has also soft-launched in Mandalay and plans to expand to all three major cities in the country this year. The Myanmar Times spoke to Mr Ly on how AIA is adapting to the crisis, its investment plan, and insurance-related regulations in Myanmar.
How has the crisis affected the insurance industry overall?
The global pandemic has impacted other industries, but us as well. I think what's interesting from this is, we can see how resilient, how quickly we were able to adjust..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-13
[field_licence]
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"The Chinese government donated more medical supplies to help Myanmar in its fight against COVID-19 on Wednesday.
A total of 150,000 pieces of nucleic acid test kits and 18,000 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) were handed over to the Medical Research Department under the Myanmar's Health and Sports Ministry.
"This donation of test kit portrays the strong contribution to Myanmar's COVID-19 fight to produce more testing capacity here," Dr. Zaw Than Htun, director-general of the department, told Xinhua.
It was learnt that the Chinese government has donated over 162,000 pieces of nucleic acid test kits, 3.95 million pieces of surgical masks, 48,600 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies to Myanmar so far since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
As part of the medical assistance, two groups of medical experts from China's Yunnan province and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) recently assisted in Myanmar's prevention, control and treatment measures against COVID-19.
As of Wednesday morning, Myanmar has reported 180 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with six deaths..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-13
[field_licence]
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"Myanmar’s courts have been widely criticized on social media in recent days over punishments handed down to those who organize religious gatherings and weddings in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions, with critics saying different laws are being applied in different areas, and that offenders are not being punished equally.
After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 to be a global pandemic in March, the President’s Office on March 13 banned public events and mass gatherings, including weddings and religious events, until the end of April as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Depending on the location, those defying state and regional governments’ COVID-19 restrictions have been prosecuted under a range of laws including the Natural Disaster Management Law, the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases Law and Article 188 of the Penal Code. The Natural Disaster Management Law has been invoked most often, with relatively few people being charged under the Penal Code.
Lawsuits have been filed against members of the Buddhist, Christian and Muslim communities across the country. While some are facing prison terms, others have been given moderate fines.
Recently, the Thanintharyi regional government fined officials of a pagoda trustee committee 100,000 kyats (about US$70) for organizing the funeral of a Buddhist monk in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions. In this case, authorities took legal action under the Penal Code.
In April, more than 200 residents of Sinthay Village in Dawei District’s Yebyu Township attended Buddhist funeral rites for the 83-year-old monk, despite the COVID-19 prevention measures and restrictions set down by the regional government..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-13
[field_licence]
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"Cordaid has been working in Myanmar since 2008, starting with support in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, and since then continued with humanitarian aid and resilience projects. The country is a high-risk area for natural hazards like floods, cyclones, landslides, and earthquakes. In many ethnically diverse areas, conflicts have been present for many years, and currently, Myanmar is also facing the issues concerning the coronavirus pandemic. Cordaid works on resilience in three areas in Myanmar.
One of these areas is the central dry zone of the country. This area experiences flooding yearly, up to several months. Additionally, erosion of the banks of the most important river in the country (the Irrawaddy river) has resulted in losing land and movement of whole villages.
Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction
Cordaid, in partnership with Caritas Myanmar (KMSS), has been working on Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction. In 13 villages, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) committees have been set up, which have been trained to properly mitigate, prevent, prepare for, and respond to certain hazards, mainly floods.
Villagers have now received a boat to be able to travel during flooding time, or built an emergency shelter, elevated a road, or constructed a water tank and pipes to be able to get clean drinking water in flooding season..."
Source/publisher:
"Cordaid " via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-12
[field_licence]
Type:
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"COVID-19 Team Leader, Myanmar Market Analysis Unit
Project Location: Yangon, Myanmar (preferably) – But given the current working restrictions engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic, initial remote support from outside Myanmar will be accepted.
Background:
With much of the attention currently focusing on the health and hygiene response, there are difficulties obtaining information on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on households and markets in Myanmar. It is now essential to direct resources into evaluating the overall impact COVID-19 has had on sectors outside of healthcare. Continued in-depth, targeted and on-the-ground assessments are vital to clarify the market constraints and needs specific to individual affected areas, in order to inform early recovery, economic policies, and programme design. Mercy Corps proposes to setup a Myanmar Market Analysis Unit to gather much needed hard data and provide analysis that will help development practitioners and policymakers make informed decisions based on a better understanding of the present and potential impacts of COVID-19
The Myanmar Market Analysis Unit will provide a broad geographical coverage of market functionalities across the country, with a specific focus on archetypical geographical hubs, namely the Delta, the Dry Zone, Rakhine State, the Southeast, Yangon Region, Chin State, as well as Northern Shan and Kachin State if partnerships and access allow..."
Source/publisher:
"Mercy Corps" via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-12
[field_licence]
Type:
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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" Lawmakers at the Union Parliament will be tested for coronavirus on May 14-15, according to the head of Naypyitaw Public Health Department, Dr. Myat Wunna Soe.
“The tests will be done in two days. Their nasal swabs will be taken and sent to Yangon for lab tests,” he said.
The parliamentary sessions of the Union Parliament, Upper House and Lower House are due to resume on May 18. Lawmakers were instructed to arrive in Naypyitaw 10 days earlier.
Department staff will take nasal swabs from lawmakers at the Naypyitaw City Development Committee Guesthouse.
“We have made preparations. We have instructed that lawmakers arrive [10 days] before the parliamentary sessions begin. The results of lab tests will be available before the sessions begin,” said director-general U Kyaw Soe of the Office of the Union Parliament.
Apart from the lawmakers, their families who came to Naypyitaw together with them, guesthouse staff who may come into contact with them, transport and parliament staff and health care providers in the parliament will also be tested for coronavirus.
Journalists who cover the sessions will not be tested for coronavirus, but they must strictly follow the COVID-19 instructions, said U Kyaw Soe..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-12
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"Humanitarian agencies of the United Nations and their partners have launched an emergency air-bridge from Kuala Lumpur to Yangon to ferry in supplies to fight the coronavirus, a UN spokesman said on Monday.
The World Food Programme launched the program by flying in 10,000 virus testing kits, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The project was established because of the suspension of commercial flights due to COVID-19. The kits were obtained by the UN Children's Fund to help Myanmar's Ministry of Health and Sports, Dujarric said.
"The European Union and Switzerland are generously funding the first stage of this flight service," he said. "Each flight can bring up to 2 metric tons of humanitarian cargo, as well as personnel."
The UN's resident coordinator, Ola Almgren, thanked all donors and member states for their support.
The spokesman also said the UN Development Programme and the UN Refugee Agency agreed on Monday with the government to extend the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding for work through June of 2021 in Rakhine State.
The memorandum, originally signed in June 2018, aims to allow for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, he said. It also supports development benefiting all communities living in the three northern townships in Rakhine..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-12
[field_licence]
Type:
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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"The UN Security Council will hold a videoconference to discuss the escalation of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state and the effect of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, diplomatic sources said Monday.
The closed-door meeting, planned for Thursday, was requested by the UK. The UN envoy for Myanmar, Switzerland's Christine Schraner Burgener, is scheduled to give comments.
At the end of April, a Myanmar government health worker was injured and his driver -- who worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) -- was killed when their United Nations-marked vehicle was ambushed as they carried Covid-19 test samples in conflict-ridden Rakhine state.
The country's northwest has been embroiled in an increasingly brutal civil war between Myanmar's military and Arakan Army rebels demanding more autonomy for the state's ethnic Rakhine population.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack. He called for "a full and transparent investigation" and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, his spokesman said in a statement..."
Source/publisher:
"Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-12
[field_licence]
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"Myanmar authorities brought back 148 nationals from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by relief flight on Sunday, according to a release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The returnees will be put under quarantine at designated facilities or hotels for 21 days on their arrival under the management by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Health and Sports and the Yangon Region Government.
According to the release, a total of 1,113 Myanmar nationals from Japan, India, South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Singapore, United States, Britain, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates have arrived back home by relief flight until now.
Myanmar has reported 180 COVID-19 confirmed cases with six deaths as of Sunday since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-11
[field_licence]
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"A total of 391 Myanmar nationals who were detained at detention centers in Malaysia after being sentenced for various reasons arrived back home on Monday by a special flight, according to a release of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In order to retrieve the Myanmar national detainees from Malaysia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with concerned ministries of the Malaysian government, Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur and Myanmar local government ministries under the guidelines of the National Level Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19, said in the release.
The Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Health and Sports conducted the immigration and health screening process for them on their arrival at Yangon International Airport.
It is also learnt that the concerned state and regional governments are carrying out transportation for them to go back to their respective places and to put them under quarantine at a community based facility for 21 days.
Myanmar has reported 180 COVID-19 confirmed cases with six deaths as of Sunday since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-11
[field_licence]
Type:
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Sub-title:
At the occasion of Europe Day on 9 May, European Union (EU) Ambassador Kristian Schmidt handed over food, personal hygiene and household products to nurses and doctors at two government hospitals where COVID-19 patients are treated.
Description:
"“The health workers are the real heroes at the frontline of our joint fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Their great courage and dedicated service are admirable. We are immensely thankful for their important service, and we hope with these items we can support the health workers and their families in these difficult times,” said Ambassador Schmidt.
The EU donated food, washing powder, soap and other personal hygiene and household products to 550 health workers at the hospitals in Wai Bar Gyi and South Okkapala.
The EU has recently mobilised more than €350 million (526.2 billion kyats) to assist the ASEAN region in the fight against COVID-19. In Myanmar, many of the EU’s development programmes have adapted their activities to support the government and civil society in raising awareness about the virus and necessary measures to prevent its further spread, and in distributing hygiene and personal protection equipment. A €5 million (7.9 billion kyats) EU Myan Ku emergency cash fund assists garment workers who lost their jobs over the coronavirus crisis. In cooperation with the French Development Agency, the EU supports the National Health Laboratory - a key part of Myanmar’s COVID-19 response – to increase its testing capacities and preparedness for this and future epidemics..."
Source/publisher:
European Union (Belgium)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-10
[field_licence]
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"Myanmar military Saturday declared a nearly four-month ceasefire period to help fight against the COVID-19.
The ceasefire will be applied to the areas except for those where armed organizations named as terrorists by the government are based, said a statement from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services.
The military's ceasefire period is set from Sunday to Aug. 31 this year.
The ethnic armed organizations are advised to follow four principles out of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services' six-point peace principle, the statement said.
The four peace principles include commitment to agreements, abstaining from misusing the peace agreement, not to placing burden on local people and abiding by existing laws.
In the statement, the ethnic armed organizations are urged to take accountability and exercise restraint in order to avoid fighting with each other and not to oppress local ethnic people.
They are asked to take responsibility not to disrupt the functioning of the government's different levels of administrative mechanism and smooth transportation as well as not to harm the lives and property of the local people.
According to the statement, the military will take action if there is any violation to the mentioned instructions.
The military pledged to continue taking part in the nationwide processes of prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 pandemic..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-10
[field_licence]
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"Myanmar authorities brought back 135 Myanmar nationals from Thailand and 38 from Bangladesh to home by a relief flight on Wednesday, state-run media reported Thursday.
In order to retrieve the Myanmar nationals from Thailand and Bangladesh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with the Myanmar embassies in Bangkok and Dhaka as well as their local government ministries under the guidelines of the National Level Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19.
The returnees from the two countries will be put under quarantine at designated facilities or hotels for 21 days in line with the directives issued by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Health and Sports.
It was learnt that the two ministries and Yangon Region government will collaborate to ensure a positive experience during the quarantine.
Myanmar has reported 162 COVID-19 confirmed cases with six deaths as of Thursday morning since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-10
[field_licence]
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"65,613 migrants express intentions to re-migrate to Thailand once the border reopens
4,000+ migrants return to Kachin State mainly from the People’s Republic of China
6,207 returns to northern Shan State through Muse Nan Taw, Muse Chinshwehaw and Mongla
SITUATION OVERVIEW
Only 218 returns through official channels occurred from 1-7 May, according to the Department of Labour. This is due to the delayed re-opening of the Thai-Myanmar border following the Myanmar Government’s request to Thai authorities to allow for only 2,500 returns per day, the Thai Government’s extension of the Emergency Decree until 31 May, and subsequent ongoing talks between the two governments to manage a potential second influx of returnees.
The delay in the border re-opening is also delaying returns of Myanmar migrant workers into Thailand. So far, around 65,613 migrants have expressed intentions to re-migrate to Thailand once the border reopens.
Returns continue from the People’s Republic of China into Kachin and Northern Shan states, with the overall number of returns now to Kachin having exceeded 4,000, with over a further 1,000 having returned through Kachin to other states/regions of Myanmar. In addition, since 19 April until 6 May, 6,207 migrants returned from the People’s Republic of China to Myanmar through three border checkpoints in northern Shan State (Muse Nan Taw, Muse Chinshwehaw, and Mongla)..."
Source/publisher:
International Organization for Migration (IOM) ( Switzerland)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-09
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"Chanmyatharzi Township Court in Mandalay has sentenced 12 Muslim men to three months’ imprisonment for defying the ban on gatherings amid COVID-19 preventive measures.
U Kyaw Zwa Lin, the spokesman for the court, said the men were gathered at a house in Aung Pin Lae, Chanmyatharzi Township, in April for prayers. “Twelve adults were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment under the Natural Disaster Management Law’s Article 30(a). They were sent to Obo prison,” said U Kyaw Zwa Lin.
According to the court, the prayer service was organized by Aung Pin Lae residents, who were arrested on April 10.
Two under-18s in the group were transferred to the children’s court.
The Natural Disaster Management Law carries jail terms of up to one year.
In Tanintharyi Region, the authorities are seeking legal advice from the courts to charge the organizers of a funeral of a 83-year-old Buddhist monk of Sinphyu village in Yebyu Township. The funeral in early April was attended by over 200 residents.
As of Friday morning, Myanmar has had 176 coronavirus cases with six deaths. The government has been encouraging people to stay at home where possible and urging the use of face masks and social distancing when they go out. The government has banned gatherings of more than five people until May 15 to curb the spread of coronavirus.
In Yangon, the two Christian pastors and their followers who held a religious gathering are facing the same charges since April 14..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-09
[field_licence]
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"Myanmar’s Ministry of Health and Sports has registered one more COVID-19 case with the total going up to 177.
Myanmar has been under partial lockdown now for over a month with the government instituting measures to attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus and treat those found affected.
As of the morning of 9 May, the tally stood at 177 cases, 67 noted as recovered, and six deaths. Myanmar has brought in a range of measures including quarantine and the closing of borders and flight arrivals. The country has set up a special committee to deal with the crisis.
However, at this stage the official infection rate remains low compared with other ASEAN nations and countries around the world..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-09
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Five men admitted to a Yangon hospital with COVID-19 made online videos aimed at soothing people’s fear and anxiety about the pandemic, and became close friends in the process.
Description:
"THE FIRST of the five men to be admitted to Yangon’s South Okkalapa Maternal and Child Hospital with COVID-19 was 32-year-old Ko Sithu Wu.
Sithu Wu had been under quarantine at the Ya Wai Nwe monastery in Mingalardon Township after coming into contact with case 59 in Myanmar’s tally of confirmed cases, which is now at 176. After testing positive for the virus on April 19, he became case 103 and was moved to the South Okkalapa hospital.
Expecting that quarantine might be tedious or lonely, Sithu Wu had taken a Sony mirrorless camera, capable of capturing video, and a laptop so that he could complete a project for the company he owns, Wu Productions, which makes commercial videos.
“I continued working at the quarantine centre, and after I tested positive I took my camera and laptop with me to the hospital,” he told Frontier on May 4. Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member.
At the hospital’s isolation ward, Sithu Wu eventually found himself sharing a six-bed room with four other patients.
The last of the group to be admitted, on April 26, was Ko Chan Myae Aung, 32, the owner of the O Sushi restaurant on Parami Road in Yangon’s Hlaing Township, which was locked down by the authorities after he tested positive for COVID-19, becoming case 146. Determined to make the most of his hospital stay, he brought his guitar with him.
“When I saw them on my first day on April 26, they didn’t seem like hospital patients,” Chan Myae Aung told Frontier, remarking on how healthy they looked. “I was really happy to be with them and I forgot that I was a COVID-19 patient.” Another of the five had also brought his guitar and the group began playing and singing together. Their jamming session led to an altruistic idea to target a bigger audience – to show friends, relatives and other COVID-19 patients that they were in good health, despite being infected with the virus, and help assuage some of the fear and anxiety created by the coronavirus pandemic.
The men got to work quickly and their first production was posted to Facebook on April 26, the same day that Chan Myae Aung arrived at the hospital. It drew overwhelmingly positive responses, with many wishing them a speedy recovery.
The video, called “Dude Covid, get out of here”, is a comedy montage in which the five dance to an Indian pop song and mime activities from their daily routine, such as exercising, self-checking their vital signs and cleaning the corridor outside their room (while strumming the mops as if they were guitars)..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-08
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"A Chinese military medical expert demonstrates how to take off protective gloves at a hospital in Yangon, Myanmar, May 7, 2020. Medical experts from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Thursday provided necessary training to Myanmar's military medical staff who will be assigned to work at a COVID-19 treatment center soon..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-08
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" Myanmar authorities have repatriated a total of 608 citizens from abroad by relief flights so far and further repatriation works are being carried out, a senior official of the Foreign Affairs Ministry told Xinhua on Friday.
As of Thursday, the authorities have brought back Myanmar nationals from South Korea, Japan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Singapore since April 30.
"We have been making arrangements to bring more nationals back home and at least 100 nationals each from Malaysia and South Korea will arrive home by relief flights today," said Director General Aung Kyaw Zan of the Consular and Legal Affairs Department under the ministry.
Under the management by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Health and Sports and the Yangon Region Government, the repatriates will be put under quarantine at designated facilities or hotels for 21 days on their arrivals.
According to the Health and Sports Ministry, Myanmar has reported 176 confirmed cases for COVID-19 with six deaths as of Friday morning..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-08
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"As the country struggles with limited testing capacity, asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 have become a major concern for Myanmar’s health authorities in preventing the spread of the virus.
According to official data on Thursday, asymptomatic cases constitute 57 percent of the country’s total confirmed cases, meaning 97 out of 162 patients don’t have any symptoms of infection despite testing positive for the coronavirus. The asymptomatic patients were tested because they had close contact with patients who tested positive for COVID-19.
“Asymptomatic and mild cases cannot be detected as they wouldn’t go to the hospital, and this is one of the challenges,” Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, director of the Central Contagious Disease Prevention and Eradication Sub-Department, said on Thursday during a webinar on “Myanmar’s Challenges in Fighting Against COVID-19”.
Union Minister for Health and Sports Dr. Myint Htwe has also frequently warned in his recent public messages that there could be hidden cases—meaning asymptomatic cases—circulating in the population and that the true number of infections may be higher than official statistics.
Dr. Khin Khin Gyi said that while extensive testing is important to detect more cases and contain the spread of the disease, the country only has limited capabilities to conduct laboratory testing as it can’t produce virus reagents and materials to perform viral testing for COVID-19. “While even developed countries with strong health care systems are seeing many difficulties in the face of COVID-19, developing countries like us face more challenges and needs,” she said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-08
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"For Myanmar, the onset of Covid-19 has sparked a renewed crackdown in Rakhine and Chin states. These developments may not capture widespread attention – particularly as relations with China become increasingly fraught – yet they cannot be ignored, and must be recognised as a serious threat to regional security by Australia and others. If anything, the Rohingya refugee crisis of recent years should be a reminder of the enormous potential for regional consequences of such conflicts.
Conflict escalated in January 2019, when the Arakan Army (AA) – an armed group seeking an independent Rakhine state – attacked four police posts, killing 13 officers. In the months that followed, Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, sought to crush the separatist group with its “Four Cuts” strategy—targeting food, funds, intelligence, and recruiting with a military campaign totalling 15,000–25,000 troops, coordinated air strikes, and the largest ever active-duty deployment of the Myanmar Navy.
As recently as February this year, the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre, under chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi, has sought a bilateral ceasefire agreement. Yet as travel restrictions postponed peace talks, violence in Rakhine state intensified, and on 23 March – the day of Myanmar’s first recorded case of Covid-19 – AA was declared a terrorist group.
What has followed is the displacement of over 157,000 people and hundreds of civilian deaths, in a military advance that UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee decried as “systematically violating the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law”. Lee leaves her role at the end of a six-year post dominated by anti-Rohingya violence, with an open investigation into Tatmadaw crimes at the International Criminal Court and protective measures ordered by the International Court of Justice. Yet as a new crisis takes centre stage in northern Rakhine, the tragic irony of her departure is that the international community’s commitment to accountability appears to be waning..."
Source/publisher:
"The Interpreter"
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-08
[field_licence]
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"The total number of COVID-19 cases in Myanmar has surged to 176, with 14 more confirmed cases reported on Thursday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.
Of the newly confirmed cases, all patients are from Yangon region with no travelling history in the past 14 days, but they were in close contact with previously confirmed patients, the release said.
According to the ministry's release, 62 patients have recovered from the disease and 37 patients of them have been discharged from the hospital so far.
Myanmar has reported six deaths of COVID-19 disease as of Thursday since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-07
[field_licence]
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Despite international calls for a ceasefire and a coordinated national response, ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar military are still engaging in conflict — putting the immediate survival of many civilians at risk.
Description:
"Under the threat of conflict, adhering to social distancing and disease prevention measures are a secondary priority in many ethnic minority states in Myanmar. People are faced with inadequate medical care, curbs on movement due to both conflict and the pandemic, and trouble accessing basic goods and services.
Despite the government's stated commitment to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw, has continued its offensives in many of the country's seven minority states, particularly Rakhine and Chin states, as well as Karen state.
The Karen ethnic group — who constitute roughly 7% of the country's population — have for decades faced forced relocation, military offensives, systematic rape and murder, and have seen their villages, farms and property burned — like many other minority groups in Myanmar.
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Conflict-stricken country
The conflicts in Myanmar between ethnic armed groups and the military, which have gone on since 1948, constitute what can be considered the world's longest civil war. In February, over 2,000 Karen were forced to flee their homes in northern Karen state amid an offensive launched by the army, while other regions of the state are still facing regular attacks initiated by the military.
"In ethnic states including Karen, the government and its security forces are drastically increasing the vulnerability to the deadly virus because of military's brutal offensive attack on communities without caring calls of ceasefire from ethnic armed organizations, ethnic political parties, civil society, and the United Nations," the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) said in a statement last month..."
Source/publisher:
"DW News"
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-07
[field_licence]
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"As of 3 May, 155 cases have been confirmed with six fatalities and 43 recoveries in Myanmar. Most of the cases have been reported in Yangon Region, with 78 per cent, while 10 states and regions out of 15 (including Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory), now have reported cases. There has been no confirmed case of COVID-19 in camps or displacement sites for IDPs or in communities affected by conflicts..."
Source/publisher:
OCHA (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-07
[field_licence]
Type:
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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"Humanitarian actors in Myanmar are doing everything they can to support the preparedness and prevention efforts for COVID-19 while continuing life-saving assistance for internally displaced men, women and children.
The outbreak of COVID-19 is having an unprecedented impact across the world. But for those countries already experiencing humanitarian crises, the consequence is exacerbated by pre-existing challenges, such as a lack of access to basic services, as well as difficult living conditions, particularly in camps and displacements sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs)..."
Source/publisher:
OCHA (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-07
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"The China Foundation for Peace and Development Tuesday donated medical protective equipment to be used in Myanmar's fight against COVID-19.
The donated equipment including surgical masks, medical disposable protective clothing, medical goggles and non-contact infrared thermometers were handed over to Myanmar's Ministry of Health and Sports and Ministry of Education.
"This donation highlights the foundation's sincerity on Myanmar's COVID-19 fight and on bilateral relation between China and Myanmar," Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai said.
"This donation means a lot as the protective gears are of vital essentials to our medical staff who are working on the frontline in fight against COVID-19," Dr. Zaw Than Htun, director-general of Medical Research Department under the Health and Sports Ministry, told Xinhua.
So far, Myanmar has reported 161 COVID-19 confirmed cases with six deaths as of Tuesday..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-05
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"Myanmar’s military and authorities in the country’s capital Naypyidaw are mandating a three-week coronavirus quarantine for migrant workers returning from Thailand, with about 600 returnees now expected in a new group of arrivals, sources in Myanmar say.
More than 150,000 migrant laborers have flooded into Myanmar since March after losing their factory and farm jobs in both Thailand and China. They left when owners temporarily shuttered plants or scaled back hiring amid the spread of the coronavirus.
Around 40,000 arrivals in March alone had overwhelmed state officials who had expected significantly smaller crowds and prompted the government to appeal to others to return only after April 15.
Another 20,000 then crossed into Myanmar at the end of April over the Myanmar-Thai Friendship Bridge 2, connecting Thailand’s Mae Sot with Myawaddy in southeastern Myanmar’s Kayin state.
Naypyidaw Council director U Tun Tun Win told RFA’s Myanmar Service the 600 returnees expected in Naypyidaw have not yet arrived, adding, “When they come, they will be placed at the No. 3 Interrogation and Lodging Camp,” a facility run by the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-05
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"The Myanmar military carried out COVID-19 tests for over 300 military personnel after a 33-year-old soldier tested positive for the disease in Naypyitaw. All of them tested negative for the virus, according to military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun.
“We have tested over 300 military personnel who had contact with him, including those who work at the same office as him and his relatives. All of them tested negative,” Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy. The soldier who tested positive suffered from a fever, sore throat and diarrhea on Thursday and was placed under isolation at the local military hospital on Friday before he tested positive for the coronavirus.
The soldier is not an officer and reportedly works primarily in an office. His work does not involve traveling, according to Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun.
This is the first case of COVID-19 in the Myanmar military inside the country, though five Myanmar military trainees in Russia tested positive for the disease in April.
Upper House lawmaker U Maung Maung Swe expressed concerns as the military said the soldier did not have a travel history nor did he have contact with any known COVID-19 patients..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-05
[field_licence]
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Sub-title:
Five Myanmar soldiers also infected while undergoing military training in Russia
Description:
"A soldier in Myanmar tested positive for the coronavirus, the military said on Monday, the first confirmed case in the ranks of armed forces in the country.
The office of military chief announced the soldier has been quarantined at a military hospital in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw since May 1.
The office said the soldier is in stable condition in the hospital designated for COVID-19 patients.
It added that five military officers, who are currently undergoing a military training in Russia’s capital Moscow, also tested positive for the disease.
Myanmar on Monday reported that six more patients tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total cases to 161.
It added that six patients have so far died from the coronavirus, while 43 have recovered..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-05
[field_licence]
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Government and armed group siloed responses put 100,000 Kachins at risk
Description:
"Myanmar's numerous unresolved ethnic insurgencies have made a cohesive national response to the global COVID-19 pandemic virtually impossible.
Until this week, the government had little or no contact with over a dozen armed groups, many of which are ranged along the borders with China and Thailand. Dissident minorities have so far been largely left to develop their own responses to the pandemic. Along Myanmar's northern border with China, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) -- the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) -- has been fighting Myanmar's military since a 17-year ceasefire broke down in 2011.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 107,000 Kachins are internally-displaced persons (IDPs), and living in 173 camps in the region. Myanmar's government has restricted humanitarian access to KIO-controlled areas for years.
In KIO-controlled areas, a possible COVID-19 contagion is of most concern among the IDPs. Living conditions in their camps are cramped and hygiene poor..."
Source/publisher:
"Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-05
[field_licence]
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"Since the end of March, extensive education campaigns have been implemented in the Lashio region, focusing on keeping people at a distance, coughing and sneezing in the crook of their arms, and ensuring regular hand hygiene. To make sure that everyone really understands how dangerous the coronavirus is and how it spreads, our colleagues from arche noVa, together with their local partner organisation SMDO, have had 44 posters and 2000 brochures printed in five languages. The most important information is now available in Chinese, Kachin, Shan, Burmese and English, enriched with symbols and pictures to achieve the greatest possible understanding among the people in the region. Besides printed information material, the most important information is also sent by SMS.
In addition to this large-scale educational campaign, almost 5000 pieces of soap have been distributed in a total of 30 villages around Lashio since last week. This will enable 1620 households to protect themselves from infection with the virus for a while with good hand hygiene.
Similar measures like these in Lashio are also taking place in other areas of our project areas in Myanmar, such as Rakhine State.
Protective masks for the Ministry of Health
Even the Ministry of Health contacted arche noVa with the request to get urgently needed face masks, which had been sold out on the local markets for days and could not be procured anywhere. On 30 March arche noVa was able to hand over a delivery of 1000 face masks in Lashio, which were directly forwarded to medical staff such as nurses, carers and midwives in rural areas to ensure the care of the people there..."
Source/publisher:
Arche noVa via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-04
[field_licence]
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"Children who contract COVID-19 appear to have less severe symptoms and lower mortality rates than other age groups. But in myriad other ways, the COVID-19 crisis is having a devastating effect on children, with potentially far-reaching and long-term negative impacts. More than 1.5 billion students are out of school, and widespread job and income loss and economic insecurity are likely to increase rates of child labor, sexual exploitation, teenage pregnancy, and child marriage. Stresses on families, particularly those living under quarantines, lockdowns and other restrictions on freedom of movement, may increase the incidence of violence in the home. As the global death toll from COVID-19 increases, large numbers of children will be orphaned and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. This report outlines key human rights risks to children related to the COVID-19 crisis, and steps that governments should take to protect children’s rights in the pandemic, mitigate its devastating effects, and benefit children after the crisis is over..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-04
[field_licence]
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