Public Health
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Description:
" From boiled catfish soup to spicy fried frog, an eight-year-old in pyjamas and a chef's hat is delighting Myanmar with her culinary prowess in a nation still being told to stay at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moe Myint May Thu's mother posted a video online at the end of April showing off her daughter's skills as the youngster threw together some spicy fried prawns. With her wide gap-toothed grin, the video has bounced across social media and brought stardom to the child along with an online moniker: "Little Chef".
She now sells dishes to order - and is counting the dividends.
"I just love cooking," she tells AFP, during a break from the kitchen in her family's Yangon flat. "It's made us happy cooking together in the lockdown," she says, adding she wants to translate her childhood passion into a career when she grows up. In her most popular video, which has nearly 200,000 views, the young star wears a unicorn-themed T-shirt as she gives instructions on how to make Myanmar breakfast favourite Mohingya, concocted with boiled catfish.
Moe Myint May Thu has mastered 15 dishes, including tomato fish paste curry, pork stew and spicy fried frog.
Each meal sells for a flat-rate of 10,000 kyat (US$7.20) and is delivered by the family at the end of each day, the whole operation under the guidance of the experienced hands of her social influencer mum, Honey Cho.
The business venture is clearly paying off..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-01
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Description:
"The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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YANGON -- Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry Monday announced extension of temporary entry restrictions for travellers from all countries until June 15, as part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 outbreak.
The extension will be effective to the ministry's announcements of precautionary measures for the travellers which were set to be in force until May 31.
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THE HAGUE -- The Netherlands reopened restaurants, cafes, theaters, concert halls, museums and cinemas on Monday after two and a half months' COVID-19 lockdown.
According to the rules, a maximum of 30 people are allowed in restaurants, cafes, theaters, concert halls and cinemas, as long as the 1.5-meter social distancing rules can be kept. A maximum of two people who are not from the same household can sit together at one table.
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LUSAKA -- Zambia reported 32 new COVID-19 cases in the last five days, bringing the cumulative cases to 1,089, health authorities said on Monday.
The country conducted 3,961 tests in the last five days from which the 32 cases were picked from.
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KATHMANDU -- With the confirmation of 226 new cases on Monday, Nepal has seen the highest single day spike of COVID-19 cases, and the total tally has surged to 1,798.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), 213 males and 13 females tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-01
[field_licence]
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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"Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry Monday announced extension of temporary entry restrictions for travellers from all countries until June 15, as part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 outbreak.
The extension will be effective to the ministry's announcements of precautionary measures for the travellers which were set to be in force until May 31.
Complying with the restrictions, all incoming travelers including Myanmar nationals and all diplomats accredited to Myanmar and the United Nations officials working in Myanmar must follow the existing directives issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports on their arrival in Myanmar.
Also, the suspension period of all types of visas including social visit visas and visa exemption services has been extended to June 15, the ministry's announcement said. Myanmar has reported 228 confirmed COVID-19 cases with six deaths so far since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-01
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"• After relatively a low rate of cases, 17 new cases were confirmed on 30 May alone, bringing the total to 228 cases, six fatalities and 138 recoveries across the country. Two cases were confirmed in Rakhine State, while no cases have been confirmed in camps or sites for internally displaced people (IDP) or in communities affected by the conflict.
• Return of migrants from bordering areas continues. More than 80,000 migrants returned since March, according to initial estimates by IOM.
• New academic year to resume mid-July, with many government schools used as quarantine facilities to be vacated and prepared for classes.
• Myanmar Government states that repatriation of Rohingya is likely to be delayed after the first COVID-19 case in the refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar.
• COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts continue by government, ethnic health organizations and humanitarian partners across all conflict-affected areas and in quarantine facilities for returning migrants.
• A total of US$47.6 million has been contributed to the 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), including $11.8 million to the HRP COVID-19 Addendum (18 per cent funding of revised total requirement of $262.3 million) – FTS
• Union Parliament agrees to seek US$700 million loan from the International Monetary Fund for COVID-19 response..."
Source/publisher:
OCHA (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-01
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Sub-title:
Facing high infection risk, many have moved to temporary dwellings to keep loved ones safe
Description:
"Dr Wunna is terrified of infecting his frail mother with the novel coronavirus.
The 33-year-old assistant surgeon, who works at Yangon General Hospital’s emergency department, would like to move out until it’s safe to see her again.
But he comes home after every shift because she has coronary heart disease, and he doesn’t want her to be alone if she has a heart attack. That same disease, though, is the very thing that makes her so vulnerable if she catches the virus.
Knowing that his job puts him at a higher risk of getting the virus, and that he might spread it to his mother even if he doesn't have symptoms, is causing him constant stress.
“It’s suffocating,” he told Myanmar Now at the end of a busy shift. “How long is this going to last?”
When he gets home from work each day he takes his shoes off outside, disinfects them and leaves them there. Then he immediately washes all of his clothes. He keeps as much distance as possible from his mother in their shared apartment and they no longer eat at the same table.
Dr Wunna is among hundreds of frontline health workers in hospitals dealing with Covid-19 patients whose family lives have been upended since the crisis began.
Many have left their homes to stay in government-provided apartments, and haven’t seen their partners, children and parents for weeks for fear of giving them the virus.
So far, a doctor, an anaesthetist, and three nurses at public hospitals have tested positive for the virus in Myanmar. More than 100 other public healthcare workers who were in close contact with them are still under quarantine..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-31
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Sub-title:
Country records 37 imported cases in less than two weeks
Description:
"Myanmar reported a surge in COVID-19 cases Saturday, bringing its tally to 224.
Of the total, six have died and 130 made full recoveries, according to health ministry.
The ministry of health and sports announced late Friday that 17 people who were under a 21-day quarantine after returning from India, tested positive of COVID-19.
Despite no local transmission since May 18, the country has reported 37 imported cases in less than two weeks as thousands of Myanmars returned home under the government’s plan to rescue nationals stranded abroad.
The government said 2,596 nationals have been brought back..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-30
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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The health ministry reported 17 new COVID-19 cases on May 30 involving returning migrants from India. This comes after the government extended an international commercial flight ban to June 15 to slow down the spread of the disease.
Description:
"The ministry said 15 of the new COVID-19 patients were residents of Yangon and two others were residents of Mandalay. The new patients were undergoing the mandatory 21-day facility quarantine when they tested positive for the virus.
All the new COVID-19 cases reported in the country during the past two weeks were imported, involving citizens returning from abroad, health ministry data showed. On May 29, The Department of Civil Aviation notified all international airlines about the extension of a ban on commercial flights to Myanmar until June 15.
The ban on international commercial flights was first imposed on March 29 as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Thousands of Myanmar migrants who lost their jobs abroad due to the coronavirus are now returning to the country.
The Foreign Affairs ministry earlier announced the government has prepared quarantine facilities across the country that can accommodate up to 100,000 people.
The government is relying on strict quarantining and swift contact tracing to control the virus, which was first detected in the country on March 23.
From January 31 to May 29 at 8 pm, Myanmar has been able to test 23,951 people for the disease, according to data from the health ministry.
So far, Myanmar has reported 224 confirmed cases, including six deaths and 130 recoveries..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-30
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"YANGON: Some domestic airlines in the country will be resuming operations by the end of this month.
Reports in the Myanmar Times said Air Thanlwin, which was temporarily suspended in April to curb the spread of Covid-19, would resume operations tomorrow.
The airline will resume flights with routes based in Yangon and Mandalay flying to Sittwe, Tachileik, Myitkyina, Kengtung, Heho and Hkamti.
Myanmar National Airlines and Air KBZ had resumed domestic flights since early May.
Golden Myanmar Airlines, which suspended operations until May 15, resumed domestic flights the next day on May 16, to some destinations flown by majority of travellers.
Mann Yadanarpon Airlines restarted its domestic flights on May 22, but only between Yangon and Sittwe.
Currently, Myanmar has suspended international flights until the end of May, and domestic flights have been reduced depending on the availability of passengers.
The Civil Aviation Department extended a ban on international commercial air traffic until the end of this month on May 14 to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Some international airlines flying to Myanmar have announced plans to resume some flights in early June.
The ban, first introduced on March 30 and extended by decrees since then, was extended 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..."
Source/publisher:
"New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-29
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Sub-title:
Some political parties have begun preparing for the general elections as the government cautiously eases restrictions meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Description:
"Party officials said that while they cannot yet go all out in their campaigning because of the ban on mass gatherings, they are acting within the limits.
“The preparations have begun,” said U Aung Moe Kyaw, chair of the New Democratic Party. “But the situation is still very difficult.” Shan Nationalities Party joint secretary U Sai Kyaw Nyunt said that if COVID-19 continues to hamper preparations for the polls it may have to change tactics to reach out to voters. “We might have to organise online party offices,” he said.
He added that while they have not yet selected their official candidates, the selection criteria have been drafted and are ready to implement.
However, the country’s two biggest parties – the National League for Democracy and the Union Solidarity and Development Party – refused to discuss their preparations for the polls.
Some parties have opted to postpone their preparations until the Union Election Commission (UEC) announces the election date.
Daw Aye Nu Sein, spokesperson for the Arakan National Party, which controls the Rakhine State parliament, said it is difficult to start preparations because, even without the threat of COVID-19, there is the uncertainty caused by the fighting between the Arakan Army and Tatmadaw (military).
“There is the war, and there are issues with COVID 19, so we have not started yet,” she said.
A senior election official has said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the election would likely be held in November, the same as the elections in 2010 and 2015..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-29
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"As COVID-19 continues to evolve in Myanmar, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes are supporting the efforts of the Government of Myanmar and communities to prevent and respond to the pandemic.
Since the early days of the outbreak, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been working closely with the Government to provide direct assistance. In recent weeks, more than 8,700 bottles of hand gel and 260 temperature screeners were handed over to the Union Parliaments, the Myanmar Anti-Corruption Commission, the Union Civil Service Board, the Union Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the Supreme Court of the Union, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission and other counterparts. Similar assistance was also provided to local communities in collaboration with 12 CSOs in Kachin and Rakhine states. To assist community awareness building, about 100 loudspeakers are also being provided to the Department of Disaster Management. Further, UNDP will be assisting nine state and regional governments in strengthening health support through providing personal protection equipment (PPE) and other necessary medical supplies, with the first batch of PPEs due to be handed over in the next two weeks.
UNDP continues to enhance the capacities of mational institutions to operate effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through its Support to Effective and Responsive Institutions Project (SERIP), UNDP organized a webinar for Union Hluttaw MPs, on the topic of the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP) and the role of MPs with regard to this important national plan. UNDP’s project on Strengthening Accountability and Rule of Law (SARL) is providing video conferencing equipment to the Myanmar Anti-Corruption Commission and the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission. This support will allow enhanced coordination and timely provision of services to general public. It will have a positive impact on the operations and activities of the Government institutions and CSOs to allow staff to continue ongoing coordination work while observing physical distancing measures.
Earlier in April, UNDP collaborated with relevant Government entities at union and state levels to prepare and submit loan applications to the COVID-19 Fund set up by the Government of Myanmar. A fund of 100 billion Myanmar kyats was set up to provide immediate loans to enterprises in the socio-economic sector impacted by the COVID-19. UNDP facilitated over 180 applications to this fund..."
Source/publisher:
OCHA, UNDP, UNIC via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-29
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"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
[field_licence]
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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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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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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
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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
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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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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"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
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, China-Burma relations
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"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
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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
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Individual Documents
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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
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Individual Documents
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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]
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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:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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"• 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
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"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:
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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]
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" စာသောက်ဆိုင်များ ပြန်လည်ဖွင့်လစ်ရာတွင် လိုက်နာဆောင်ရွက်ရမည့် အချက်များ..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Health and Sports (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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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
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"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:
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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:
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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]
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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]
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"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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"The Myanmar government is preparing to reopen basic education schools in July and will release exam results before schools reopen, Basic Education Department Director-General U Ko Lay Win told The Irrawaddy.
In Myanmar, the academic year usually starts in June and ends in March, with schools closing for summer holidays from March to June, and exam results are normally released in mid-April. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the government decided to postpone the start of the school year until July.
All basic education schools from the primary to secondary level will open in July but they will open in phases, rather than simultaneously, U Ko Lay Win said.
“Schools will reopen in the third week of July at the latest. The Education Ministry is doing its best to ensure a safe environment for the children,” said U Ko Lay Win.
The ministry will provide free face shields and masks for students and teachers and will provide digital thermometers to schools for temperature screenings. It will also arrange washbasins in schools, apply safe distancing measures in classrooms and take other preventative measures such as creating separate morning and evening sessions for schools with large numbers of students..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-15
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"member of a Chinese military medical team works at a laboratory for testing COVID-19 at the No. 1 Defence Services General Hospital in Mingaladon township, Yangon, Myanmar, April 30, 2020. A team of medical personnel from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Thursday provided assistance to Myanmar military in building a laboratory for testing COVID-19..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
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Sub-title:
In its delayed response to the pandemic, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government prioritizes the country’s ethnic majority.
Description:
"In Myanmar’s northern Kachin state, a short-lived street mural this month showed health care workers fighting to save the planet from a virus cast by death personified. It featured a Myanmar flag and a call for unity amid the coronavirus pandemic: “Stay at home, save lives,” it said. “We fight together.”
Before it was painted over, the mural was intended to raise awareness about COVID-19. Instead, its creators were charged in a case that is emblematic of Myanmar’s inadequate response to the pandemic. The three artists who painted the mural were accused of blasphemy after Buddhist nationalists complained that Death’s robe resembled that of a monk. The arbitrary censorship mirrored larger trends. Slow to acknowledge the coronavirus crisis, Myanmar authorities and leaders are instead stoking nationalism, a trend that both undermines public health efforts and puts vulnerable ethnic groups at risk.
Largely due to lack of testing, it wasn’t until March 23 that Myanmar confirmed its first case of the coronavirus: a Myanmar citizen living in the United States who had recently returned for a wedding. The announcement brought an end to weeks of government bragging about Myanmar’s supposed lack of cases. Nearly two weeks later, the doctor who examined the first patient revealed that no one who had come into contact with him was tested. Health officials then scrambled to administer tests and found that the patient’s mother and a few other contacts were also infected..."
Source/publisher:
"Foreign Policy" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-02
[field_licence]
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"The total number of COVID-19 infections in Myanmar has risen to 149, with three more confirmed cases reported late Tuesday, according to a release from the Ministry of Health and Sports.
All the newly confirmed cases are from Yangon region and were under quarantine as they were in close contact with previously confirmed cases.
According to the ministry's release, 16 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
Myanmar has reported five deaths of COVID-19 as of Tuesday since the infectious disease was first detected in the country on March 23..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-29
[field_licence]
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" Myanmar President's Office Wednesday announced the formation of an inquiry committee to investigate into a recent armed attack on a vehicle of the World Health Organization (WHO) carrying COVID-19 surveillance samples in Rakhine state.
The WHO vehicle transporting swab samples to the national laboratory in Yangon was attacked in Minbya township of Rakhine state on April 20, said the President's Office, killing the driver and wounding a health worker on board.
The newly formed four-member inquiry committee is chaired by U Saw, chairman of Citizens' Fundamental Rights Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, the presidential order said.
The inquiry committee is tasked to conduct field investigations at the area where the incident took place, to collect testimonies of witnesses, to acquire evidential materials and information, to gather views from the experts and others.
The committee is given rights to conduct the investigations in accordance with the country's Code of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act as well as to question military, police personnel and other officials who are needed for the inquires..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-29
[field_licence]
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"The Myanmar government has formed a coordination and cooperation committee to work with ethnic armed groups in the fight against COVID-19, said an order issued by the President's Office on Tuesday.
The presidential order stressed that the government has been making strenuous efforts to adopt measures of prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 without any discrimination on racial and religious grounds, based on a "No one left behind policy".
Chaired by Dr. Tin Myo Win, vice chairman of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center, the four-member committee was formed with an aim to make the measures effective concerning prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 in the areas where ethnic armed groups are residing, the order said.
The committee is assigned to exchange information related to COVID-19 and boost cooperation in monitoring returnees through the border gate, transferring patients if there are suspected COVID-19 cases and tracing contacts, among others.
The committee will conduct coordination and cooperation among ethnic armed groups, regional and state governments in the fight against the epidemic..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-28
[field_licence]
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Description:
"Sign up here for our daily coronavirus newsletter on what you need to know, and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis.
The Covid-19 crisis has disrupted Myanmar’s efforts to develop its fledgling insurance industry. At the same time, it’s showing why coverage is important, according to Dai-ichi Life Insurance Myanmar Ltd.
The crisis highlights the value of health-care and life coverage in a nation where only about two out of 10,000 people have insurance, said Zarchi Tin, the firm’s chief executive officer. An economic slowdown may make premiums less affordable for some people, she said.
“Like most companies, Covid-19 has brought disruptions to our business,” Zarchi Tin said in a telephone interview Friday. “It’s also made us more agile..."
Source/publisher:
"Bloomberg News" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-28
[field_licence]
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Description:
"Myanmar lawyer Thiri had been excited about her wedding and new job this year — before the coronavirus threw both into doubt. With the stars very much unaligned, she turned to an astrology app for help.
For a fee of a few dollars, Thiri’s online mystic advised the 26-year-old to carry out kind deeds around her home, from donating flowers to feeding animals on the street, to ensure good karma.
“I’m going to follow all her advice,” Thiri said, praising the Min Thein Kha app for its convenience at a time when the doors to her usual real-life astrologer at a downtown Yangon temple are securely shut for the city’s lockdown.
The Min Thein Kha platform — the only one of its kind in Myanmar — was launched two years ago. Its creators claim to have two million registered customers and 50,000 daily active users.
Users log on, select one of the 23 astrologers profiled on the app and submit a question, paying in advance by bank or mobile phone transfer with the promise of an audio file reply within 48 hours.
Uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak has seen the number of questions rocket by 50 percent, says Bagan Innovation Technology, the company behind the virtual fortune-telling service..."
Source/publisher:
"Japan Times" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Description:
"Myanmar lawyer Thiri had been excited about her wedding and new job this year - before the coronavirus threw both into doubt. With the stars very much unaligned, she turned to an astrology app for help.
For a fee of a few dollars, Thiri's online mystic advised the 26-year-old to carry out kind deeds around her home, from donating flowers to feeding animals on the street, to ensure good karma.
"I'm going to follow all her advice," Thiri tells AFP, praising the Min Thein Kha app for its convenience at a time when the doors to her usual real-life astrologer at a downtown Yangon temple are securely shut for the city's lockdown. The Min Thein Kha platform - the only one of its kind in Myanmar - was launched two years ago. Its creators claim to have two million registered customers and 50,000 daily active users. Users log on, select one of the 23 astrologers profiled on the app and submit a question, paying in advance by bank or mobile phone transfer with the promise of an audio file reply within 48 hours..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health
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Sub-title:
Trade plummets, factories close, thousands near unemployment as virus spares Myanmar's population but preys on industries
Description:
"All eyes in Myanmar have been on the country’s parliament since a debate on proposed constitutional amendments commenced last week.
However, a group of military-appointed lawmakers stole the limelight on Wednesday with a distinctive arrival at the Union Parliament in the political capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
It was not because they carried guns to parliament; rather, it was the fact that all 116 military lawmakers wore protective face masks.
A member of the ruling National League party said their most likely aim was to raise public awareness on the threat posed by the global coronavirus outbreak.
“People pay attention to the Hluttaw [Burmese term for parliament] these days. So, they might have thought the timing was right to send a message to the public about the coronavirus threat,” he told Anadolu Agency over the phone on Wednesday.
“In my opinion, it is a good idea. But I don’t know if it is just a stunt or a sincere show of concern,” said the lawmaker, who requested anonymity due to a fear of reprisal.
The move came after the military announced earlier this week that the outbreak may postpone the annual ceremony of Armed Forces Day on March 27.
Myanmar, which shares a long and porous border with neighboring China, is surprisingly not among the over 75 countries with confirmed COVID-19 cases.
However, the country’s health authorities have warned of a potential outbreak and urged people to avoid mass gatherings.
In its daily press release on Wednesday, the health ministry said there were no coronavirus cases in the country but said an outbreak was still possible..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-06
[field_licence]
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Description:
"YANGON-Myanmar Embassy in Beijing, China, announced that two Myanmar criminals in Hubei Province, China, were infected with COVID-19.
They were charged with drug dealing and trafficking cases in Hubei, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Two Myanmar COVID-19 patients were sent to Mobile Cabin Hospital on February 27th and 28th and they are being received medical treatments.
Although the two inmates are in stable condition, they weren’t allowed to discharge from the hospital. The Prison Department (branch) in Hubei Province is carrying out Psychological Crisis Intervention and Persuasion since the beginning of two Myanmar inmates were infected with COVID-19.
The announcement also reported that 67 Myanmar sailors were being detained for smuggling at the 18 prisons across China.
At present, Hubei Province has been in lockdown since last month, and the people are not allowed to go from one street to another..."
Source/publisher:
Eleven Media Group (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-06
[field_licence]
Type:
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"A total of 154 Myanmar citizens have so far returned from China with the help of the Myanmar embassy in Beijing following the spread of the coronavirus, the embassy reported.
Some Myanmar citizens working in China made contact with the embassy saying that they wanted to return home in fear of COVID-19.
The embassy sent 64 Myanmar citizens in the first batch to Chinshwehaw border gate on the Myanmar-China border on March 1.
The group included 12 pregnant women and their husbands and those with poor health.
Again, 59 people were sent in the second batch on March 2. Among them were 15 Chin nationals. The third batch was also sent on the same day. They were sent in accompany with two Chinese doctors and 14 police officers.
The returnees will be handed over to Myanmar authorities after medical checkups, citizenship scrutiny, and other checks..."
Source/publisher:
"Eleven Media Group" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-05
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"Globally, a person dies from suicide every 40 seconds, and it is estimated that for every death, 20 others have attempted to take their own lives. The vast majority of suicides take place in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization.
Young people’s vulnerability to suicide-related mental health problems is particularly concerning in Myanmar, a country that has long grappled with conflict and humanitarian crises. “There is a strong association between conflict, forced migration and higher rates of mental and psychosocial disorders,” said Eri Taniguchi, a UNFPA specialist in issues relating to gender-based violence.
“As we all know, the vulnerabilities of women, girls, youth and adolescents increase in humanitarian settings, while mental health and psychosocial needs tend to be overlooked or considered not a priority,” she added.
UNFPA, the lead agency for mental health and psychosocial support in Myanmar, is working to change that. With the Johns Hopkins University, UNFPA chairs a working group that has established a referral system for mental health and psychosocial services.
“Suicide is a serious public health problem,” Ms. Taniguchi said. “However it is preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost intervention.”..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-05
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Mental health, Public Health
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A fifth person suspected of having COVID-19 in Myanmar has tested negative for the illness, the Health Ministry said.
Description:
"The Myanmar government said it has found no cases of the disease within its borders, more than two months after COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China.
The 26-year-old Myanmar man and his wife tested negative for the disease, after he had been in close contact with a Myanmar woman who became infected with COVID-19 while working as a maid in Singapore, the ministry said.
The man and his wife have been quarantined at a hospital in Kyaukpadaung township of Mandalay Region since February 26, as part of the government’s response to the threat.
On Tuesday, the ministry said four people suspected of having the disease, including a 38-year-old Chinese man and a 37-year-old New Zealand man, tested negative for the virus. The test results were provided by the National Health Laboratory, which recently acquired hundreds of testing kits for the virus.
COVID-19 has killed over 3000 people and infected more than 90,000 globally..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-05
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The government will continue sending workers abroad, even to South Korea, which is now the centre of the COVID-19 epidemic in more than 70 countries, a senior labour official said.
Description:
"Daw Thin Thin Lwin, assistant director of the Overseas Job Agency under the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, said that the government had sent 23,586 workers to Thailand, 4408 to Malaysia, 69 to Singapore, 267 to Korea, 761 to Japan, 58 to UAE, 67 to Jordan and 11 to Qatar in January.
"We will not stop sending workers abroad, even to South Korea,” she said.
Thousands of Myanmar nationals continue to seek work abroad due to Myanmar’s slumping economy and lack of jobs.
From 2011 through February, over 40,000 Myanmar workers went to South Korea, she said. On Monday, the Health Ministry announced that Singapore had notified it that a 25-year-old Myanmar woman working as a maid in the city-state had tested positive for COVID-19, the first such case involving a Myanmar citizen.
As of Wednesday, the Myanmar government said, the country had no confirmed cases of COVID-19, which has killed over 3000 people since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, on December 31..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-05
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Individual Documents
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, Labour issues in Burma
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India is increasing competing with China in its neighbourhood, so helping out in a crisis is a good way to make friends.
Description:
"The Indian Air Force last week evacuated 112 people stranded in Wuhan, one of several operations by India to the the Chinese city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. But while India is one of many countries to help its citizens in need, what was also striking about this particular mission was that 36 people in this group were foreign nationals, primarily from Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Maldives.
The evacuation was somewhat overshadowed by the intense media coverage of US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to India, as well as attention on the outbreak of communal violence in the country. But while India’s evacuations of not just its own citizens but also those belonging to neighbouring countries was mainly a humanitarian mission, it did have significant political ramifications reflecting India’s regional diplomacy..."
Source/publisher:
"The Interpreter"
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-05
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Type:
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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The Ministry of Health and Sports released a notification to the public on February 23, warning that people should avoid crowded places as incidents of the novel coronavirus(COVID-19) could occur in Myanmar.
Description:
"Health experts are advising people to avoid going to festivals and places were people gather, such as busy shopping centers and markets.
“We should not hold festivals in Myanmar at the moment,” said Dr Khin Khin Gyi, deputy director of Contagious Disease Prevention and Eradication at the Department of Public Health.
“It would be better if they are not held at all,” she added. “I want to urge people to take protective measures, and that means avoiding unnecessary exposure to the virus in public gatherings,” said Dr Khin Maung Lwin, director (retired) of the Ministry of Health and Sports.
In a statement issued by the ministry, the government warned that “even those who have not come into contact with infected people, or those who have not travelled to high-risk countries, are at risk of contracting COVID-19”. Close contact with others in crowded places increases the risk of infection.
“The most important thing is contact. If there are infected people near you, you can get infected,” said Dr Aung Tun, advisor to the Ministry of Health and Sports..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-04
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"Myanmar stopped a cruise boat carrying hundreds of tourists from docking in the country, a senior tourism official said on Tuesday, citing fears passengers could be carrying the coronavirus.
The Silver Spirit, a luxury liner operated by Monaco-based Silversea Cruises, last docked at the Thai island of Phuket and was scheduled to stop at Thilawa, outside Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon on Wednesday.
“We have informed the ... port authorities that the entry of this ship should not be allowed,” Khin Maung Soe, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, told Reuters by phone.
He said he did not know whether any of the passengers were showing symptoms of the virus. Myanmar stopped a cruise boat carrying hundreds of tourists from docking in the country, a senior tourism official said on Tuesday, citing fears passengers could be carrying the coronavirus.
The Silver Spirit, a luxury liner operated by Monaco-based Silversea Cruises, last docked at the Thai island of Phuket and was scheduled to stop at Thilawa, outside Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon on Wednesday.
“We have informed the ... port authorities that the entry of this ship should not be allowed,” Khin Maung Soe, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, told Reuters by phone.
He said he did not know whether any of the passengers were showing symptoms of the virus..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-04
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"Singapore has sent medical supplies to Myanmar that will allow doctors to detect and contain the coronavirus outbreak.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday (March 4) that the Government has contributed 3,000 diagnostic tests and two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines to test for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
MFA said the contribution was in response to a request from the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports. The supplies were handed over from the Singapore's Ambassador to Myanmar, Ms Vanessa Chan, to Myanmar National Health Laboratory deputy director-general Htay Htay Tin at Yangon International Airport.
Singapore had previously sent medical supplies to China on Feb 19 and Feb 8.
For the Feb 19 dispatch, Singapore's Ambassador to China, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, handed over the country's humanitarian assistance to People's Liberation Army General Hospital Medical Service Department deputy head Zhang Fu in Beijing.
The assistance was to help communities severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak in China and aid efforts to contain the virus, MFA said on Feb 20..."
Source/publisher:
"The Straits Times" (Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-04
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Decision was made as proactive measure before cruise ship arrived in commercial capital Yangon as planned
Description:
"Myanmar has refused the entry of a tourist cruise ship in the country’s commercial capital out of fear of the coronavirus epidemic, which has a large presence in Southeast Asia.
Myanmar, which to date has no confirmed case of coronavirus, was a scheduled four-day stopover for The Silver Spirit, operated by Bahamas-based Silver Sea Cruises, in Yangon, but the government on Monday reversed the permission to dock.
Khin Khin Gyi, deputy director at the Health and Sports Ministry, said the decision was made at an emergency meeting held in the capital Nay Pyi Taw late Sunday.
“The main reason is that the cruise ship stopped in several countries with confirmed coronavirus cases,” she told Anadolu Agency by phone on Monday.
The ship, carrying 485 tourists from 22 countries and over 350 crew members, last stopped at the Thai resort island of Phuket.
Myanmar has examined 45 suspected cases, but none has tested positive for the virus, the ministry said on Sunday..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-03
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"Telling people that you are a “zero” may not get much attention. Telling people that you are a “patient zero”? That’s a different story.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who also goes by the nickname Woz, momentarily caused a stir with the following tweet: Yeah, that’s not going to get zero reaction with the ongoing COVID-19 causing coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) outbreak occurring. The possible suggestion that he and his wife, Janet, may have been the “patient zeros” who brought the new coronavirus to the U.S. got all kinds of responses, ranging from people tweeting that Macs don’t get viruses to those wondering angrily why the Wozniaks took so long to see doctors.A patient zero is the first human to get infected by a pathogen like a virus and then subsequently spread it to others. There can be a patient zero for the overall SARS-CoV2 outbreak, that is the first human to have contracted the virus from a non-human source such as another animal. There can also be patient zeros for outbreaks in different locations, such as the persons who first introduced the virus to each country. It can be very, very difficult to identify who really was the patient zero in each of these cases because that person may have had very non-specific symptoms or even no symptoms at all..."
Source/publisher:
"Forbes" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-03
[field_licence]
Type:
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The Singapore Health Ministry said a Myanmar maid is suffering from the new coronavirus or COVID-19 infection, according to a Myanmar Health Ministry official, the first Myanmar citizen reported to be suffering from the deadly disease.
Description:
"U Aung Tun, an adviser to the Health Ministry, said the 25-year-old Myanmar woman is one of the 106 people suffering from the affliction that has killed over 3000 people in nearly 60 countries. More than 89,000 people are suffering from the illness first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan on December 31.
Earlier on February 1, Myanmar evacuated 59 students from Wuhan, and all of them were declared free of COVID-19 after a 14-day quarantine in a hospital in Mandalay.
Last week, two more Myanmar students in Wuhan were among the 112 people evacuated from the virus-plagued city, by an Indian Air Force plane. They are now undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in New Delhi.
The International Labour Organization said as much as 10 percent of the country’s labour force is working abroad, with over 3 million Myanmar migrant workers employed in Thailand and Malaysia alone..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-03
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"၂၀၁၉ ဒီဇင်ဘာကတည်းက တရုတ်နိုင်ငံကနေ စဖြစ်နေတဲ့ ကိုရိုနာဗိုင်းရပ်စ်ကူးစက်မှုဟာ သုံးလကြာအပြီးမှာလည်း အရှိန်လျော့သွားတဲ့လက္ခဏာမပြဘဲ ဆက်ပြီးကူးစက်ပျံ့နှံ့နေသေးတယ်။ အခုဆိုရင် ကမ္ဘာ့နိုင်ငံပေါင်း ၅၅နိုင်ငံမှာ ကိုရိုနာဗိုင်းရပ်စ် (COVID-19) ရောက်ရှိနေတယ်။ လူပေါင်း ရှစ်သောင်းကျော်ကူးစက်ခံထားရပြီး သေဆုံးသူ ၃၀၀၀ ကျော်ရှိနေပါပြီ။ ကမ္ဘာ့ကျန်းမာရေးအဖွဲ့အစည်းကလည်း ဒီကူးစက်ပျံ့နှံ့မှုကို ကမ္ဘာတစ်ခုလုံးမှာ အမြင့်ဆုံးခြိမ်းခြောက်မှုအဖြစ် ပြောင်းလဲသတ်မှတ်ထားပါတယ်။
ဒီရောဂါဟာ ဘာလို့ကြောက်ဖို့ကောင်းနေတာလဲ။ ကိုရိုနာဗိုင်းရပ်စ်ပိုး ကူးစက်ခံရရင် ခန္ဓာကိုယ်မှာဘာတွေပြောင်းလဲဖြစ်ပေါ်လာမှာလဲ၊ ဘာတွေခံစားရမလဲဆိုတာကို ဒီဆောင်းပါးမှာ ပြောပြထားပါတယ်။
အဆုတ်
အသက်ရှူလမ်းကြောင်းကနေ ကူးစက်တဲ့ရောဂါဆိုတော့ ပထမဆုံးထိခိုက်မယ့်အစိတ်အပိုင်းက အဆုတ်ပါ။ ရောဂါပိုးရှိတဲ့သူတစ်ယောက်က ချောင်းဆိုးနှာချေလိုက်တာကနေ ဗိုင်းရပ်စ်တွေက သူ့ရဲ့ နှာရည်၊ တံတွေးတို့မှာပါသွားပြီး တခြားတစ်ယောက်ကို ကူးစက်နိုင်တယ်။ ပထမဆုံးစပြီး ဖြစ်မယ့် လက္ခဏာတွေကတော့ ရိုးရိုးတုပ်ကွေးမိတဲ့လက္ခဏာတွေဖြစ်တဲ့ ဖျားတာ၊ ချောင်းဆိုးတာ၊ အသက်ရှူရခက်တာနဲ့ အဆုတ်ရောင်တာတွေဖြစ်နိုင်တယ်။ စကူးစက်ပြီး ၂ရက်ကနေ ၁၄ရက်အတွင်းဖြစ်နိုင်တယ် (ဒါပေမယ့် မသေချာသေးဘူး။ တချို့အခြေအနေတွေမှာ တော်တော်ကြာမှဖြစ်တာမျိုးတွေလည်းတွေ့နေရတယ်)။ အသက်ကြီးတဲ့သူတွေနဲ့ နဂိုရောဂါအခံရှိတဲ့သူတွေက ရောဂါရဲ့ဒဏ်ကို ပိုခံစားရတယ်။ ပိုပြင်းထန်တတ်တယ်။
ကိုရိုနာဗိုင်းရပ်စ်ရဲ့ အဆုတ်ကိုထိခိုက်တဲ့ပုံစံဟာ သူ့ညီနောင်ရောဂါတွေဖြစ်တဲ့ SARS နဲ့ MERS ရောဂါတွေနဲ့ဆင်တူတယ်လို့ဆိုပါတယ်။ ဒီအတိုင်းဆိုရင် အဆုတ်ကို ထိခိုက်တဲ့ပုံစံက အဆင့် (၃)ဆင့်ရှိတယ်။ ပထမဆုံးဗိုင်းရပ်စ်တွေပွားမယ်။ ပွားလာတဲ့ဗိုင်းရပ်စ်တွေက ဘာမှန်းမသိတဲ့အခါ ခန္ဓာကိုယ်ရဲ့ ကိုယ်ခံအားစနစ် ပြင်းပြင်းထန်ထန်တုံ့ပြန််မှုတွေဆက်ဖြစ်တယ်။ ကိုယ်ခံအားစနစ်တုံ့ပြန်မှုကြောင့် ရောင်ရမ်းမှုတွေဆက်ဖြစ်ပြီးရင်တော့ အဆုတ်မှာထိခိုက်ပြီး အဆုတ်ပျက်စီးမယ်။
ဗိုင်းရပ်စ်ကိုတိုက်ခိုက်ဖို့အတွက် ပြင်းပြင်ထန်ထန်တုံ့ပြန်တဲ့ ကိုယ်ခံအားစနစ်က ရောင်းရမ်းမှုတွေဖြစ်ပေါ်စေတာကြောင့် အဆုတ်မှာရှိတဲ့ သွေးကြောတွေကိုထိခိုက်စေပြီး သွေးကြောငယ်တွေကနေ အရည်တွေစိမ့်ထွက်စေတယ်။ အဲဒီအရည်တွေက အဆုတ်ရဲ့ လေလဲလှယ်တဲ့လေပူပေါင်းငယ်လေးတွေ (alveoli) တွေမှာစုကုန်တဲ့အတွက်ကြောင့် အဆုတ်က သူ့အလုပ်ဖြစ်တဲ့ အောက်ဆီဂျင်ကိုရယူဖို့အတွက် ခက်ခဲလာတာကြောင့်အသက်ရှူရခက်လာမယ်။ နောက်ပိုင်းမှာ လုံးဝကို လေလဲလှယ်မှုမလုပ်နိုင်တော့တဲ့အခြေအနေဖြစ်ပြီး သေဆုံးနိုင်တယ်။ တကယ်လို့ မသေဆုံးဘူးဆိုရင်တောင်မှ အဆုတ်မှာ အမာရွတ်တွေကျန်သွားမယ်။.."
Source/publisher:
"DVB" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-02
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Type:
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COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Sub-title:
What are the symptoms caused by the virus from Wuhan in China, how does it spread, and at what point should you call a doctor?
Description:
"What is Covid-19 – the illness that started in Wuhan?
It is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. Many of those initially infected either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city.
What are the symptoms this coronavirus causes?
The virus can cause pneumonia. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system. Many of those who have died were already in poor health.
Should I go to the doctor if I have a cough?
In the UK, the medical advice is that if you have recently travelled from areas affected by coronavirus, you should:
stay indoors and avoid contact with other people as you would with the flu
call NHS 111 to inform them of your recent travel to the area
More NHS advice on what to do if you think you have been exposed to the virus can be found here, and the full travel advice to UK nationals is available here..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-02
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Sub-title:
This is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide updated information as it becomes available, in addition to updated guidance.
Description:
"CDC is responding to an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in China and which has now been detected in 60 locations internationally, including in the United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).
On January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concernexternal icon” (PHEIC). On January 31, 2020, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency (PHE) for the United States to aid the nation’s healthcare community in responding to COVID-19. Source and Spread of the Virus
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in people and many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and now with this new virus (named SARS-CoV-2).
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. All three of these viruses have their origins in bats. The sequences from U.S. patients are similar to the one that China initially posted, suggesting a likely single, recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir..."
Source/publisher:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
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Sub-title:
Researchers currently think that between five and 40 coronavirus cases in 1,000 will result in death, with a best guess of nine in 1,000 or about 1%.
Description:
"Scientists combine individual pieces of evidence about each of these questions to build a picture of the death rate.
For example, they estimate the proportion of cases with mild symptoms from small, defined groups of people who are monitored very tightly, like people on repatriated flights.
But slightly different answers from those pieces of evidence will add up to big changes in the overall picture.
If you just use data from Hubei, where the death rate has been much higher than elsewhere in China, then the overall death rate will look much worse.
So scientists give a range as well as a best current estimate.
But even that doesn't tell the full story because there is no single death rate..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases
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Summary:
"From January 31 to February 29, health authorities have tested 43 people that showed symptoms of the disease, but all the results tested negative.
The ministry said one 27-year-old male...
Sub-title:
UPDATE 1: The Health Ministry assured Saturday that Myanmar remains free of the new coronavirus or COVID-19 as three foreigners tested negative for the deadly disease that has already killed over 2900 people around the world.
Description:
"From January 31 to February 29, health authorities have tested 43 people that showed symptoms of the disease, but all the results tested negative.
The ministry said one 27-year-old male British citizen, one 32-year-old male American and one 25-year-old female Chinese citizen, were being treated at Waibagi Hospital in Yangon after showing symptoms of the disease. All three underwent testing for the virus, but the results were negative, according to the National Health Laboratory (NHL) in Yangon. Health authorities quarantined on Friday seven female university students who arrived at Yangon International Airport from Daegu city in South Korea, where there is a reported outbreak of COVID-19.
Quarantined at Waibagi Hospital, officials said the students are in good health.
The ministry said all the 22 people who had contact with the South Korean tourist, diagnosed with the illness upon arrival in Seoul last week, after visiting Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, are in good health and have not shown symptoms of the disease..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"The United States has delayed a regional ASEAN summit scheduled to take place in Las Vegas next month due to fears of the coronavirus, a senior administration official said Friday (Feb 28).
"As the international community works together to defeat the novel coronavirus, the United States, in consultation with ASEAN partners, has made the difficult decision to postpone the ASEAN leaders meeting," said the official on condition of not being named..."
Source/publisher:
Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, ASEAN-Burma relations
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Description:
"As coronavirus cases continue to soar globally, in at least one region a steady façade of optimism persists. Southeast Asia’s foreign ministers have joined hands with China and declared their intention to “stay strong!”
Yet their hastily called meeting in secretive, socialist Laos last week suggests not so much resiliency as the need to shore up mutual support. Health experts are widely skeptical of the numbers reported by China’s neighbors, and believe the deadly infection is spreading undetected throughout much of Southeast Asia.
With infection clusters increasingly sprouting outside the mainland, where the virus originated, many fear these pockets—rooted out or not—are sustaining the outbreak and pushing the world toward a global pandemic.
The disease, officially COVID-19, has sickened over 83,000 and killed more than 2,850, primarily in China. But cases have spread to more than four dozen countries, and been identified as far away as Brazil and Finland.
Strangely absent from the list are Myanmar and Laos, which border China, as well as Brunei, East Timor, and Indonesia—of which the latter had daily, direct flights to the virus epicenter, Wuhan. Every other country in the region, all beneficiaries of Chinese aid, investment and tourism, has reported cases..."
Source/publisher:
"Time"
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Sub-title:
The pair were unable to return with a previous batch because one was ill and the other was travelling
Description:
"The Indian Air Force has evacuated two Myanmar students from the Chinese city of Wuhan after they were declared free of coronavirus.
The pair were unable to join 61 students who flew back to Myanmar early this month because one was ill and another was travelling outside of Wuhan, a Myanmar embassy official in Beijing told Myanmar Now, requesting anonymity.
They joined dozens of mostly Indian nationals on the Air Force flight to New Delhi, which departed around 2am on Thursday morning local time.
“They will be quarantined for 14 days and will be brought to Myanmar,” the official said.
Myanmar was making plans to bring them home when India contacted several embassies with an offer to allow some foreign nationals on the return flight of a plane carrying medical supplies to the city.
The two evacuees had been doing further studies under a Myanmar foreign ministry programme in Wuhan when the city became the epicenter of a global panic around the new flu-like virus that emerged there in late December.
India’s Globemaster plane was carrying 76 Indians, 23 Bangladeshis, and nationals from the Maldives, the US, China, and South Korea, on the flight out of the city, Indian ambassador to China Vikram Misri wrote on Twitter..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Even as China pushes factories to reopen, the ripple effects of Covid-19 have already proved inescapable for manufacturers outside the country. Particularly hard hit is Southeast Asia, where industries that depend on China for raw materials are being hobbled as their supplies dry up.
In Cambodia, the government today warned about 200 factories making mostly clothing will probably have to slow or cease production entirely due to a lack of raw materials. China—the world’s biggest textile exporter—provides more than 60% of the materials feeding Cambodia’s garment and textile factories, according to the country’s association of garment manufacturers. Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly urged the Chinese ambassador to send more materials by ship and plane so the industry won’t have to shut down.Vietnam is facing similar situations in its garment industry and beyond, with China being a major supplier of steel and components for electronics. “Car, electronics and phone manufacturers are experiencing difficulty in acquiring supplies and materials due to disruptions from the virus,” an agency representing Vietnam’s manufacturing sector told Reuters. Phone maker Samsung, which manufactures in Vietnam, is among the companies facing a serious production slowdown. Even the furniture industry, which gets component parts from China, is under duress..."
Source/publisher:
Quartz
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"WHO - Press Conference: Update on the situation regarding Coronavirus Disease (COVID - 19) (Geneva, 25 February 2020)..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
Language:
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Sub-title:
Integrated fish farming may be toxic, but farmers say banning it will raise prices and put people out of work
Description:
"At a Yangon fish farm one recent morning, Myanmar Now watched as chicken faeces fell from coops suspended above a pond, down into the water, where a scrum of fish formed to snack on it.
The practice, known as integrated animal-fish farming, pairs fish ponds with other livestock - often chicken, but also pigs and geese - grown in close proximity, with the animal waste used to generate fish feed.
Advocates say the method is economical, and that the animal waste acts only to fertilize the phytoplankton in the ponds that fish feed on. They deny the fish eat the animal waste itself.
But Myanmar Now saw fish feasting on such waste at six separate integrated farms in Yangon’s Hlegu and Mingalardon township during trips in January and February.
Public health experts say the practice encourages the spread of harmful bacteria and that toxic metals found in chicken feed accumulate in fish, from both the chicken waste and from chicken feed that spills into ponds from the coops above. Trade groups also worry about the practice. It’s banned in much of the developed world, and they say Myanmar’s continued use of integrated farms makes Myanmar a pariah in international seafood markets..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Public Health, Agriculture in Burma/Myanmar: general and research, Fisheries (including aquaculture and fishing)
Language:
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Description:
"Passenger arrivals at Myanmar’s three international airports have tumbled 36% so far in February from the prior month because of the travel curbs sparked by the novel coronavirus outbreak.
There’s been a particularly pronounced drop in the number of Chinese visitors, to 2,000 a week from a usual average of about 30,000, said Ne Win, director of air transport at the Department of Civil Aviation.
“The virus has negatively affected all airlines, routes and destinations,” Ne Win said in an interview Tuesday in Yangon. Before the virus outbreak, 17 airlines flew 30 routes from Myanmar to mainland China and Hong Kong, he said, adding that’s fallen to eight airlines and seven routes.
“The impact of the virus could last as long as a year,” Ne Win said..."
Source/publisher:
"Bloomberg News" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Sub-title:
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has delivered COVID-19 testing kits to Myanmar’s National Health Laboratory (NHL) to help with the rapid detection of the virus, the Japanese aid agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
Description:
"The kits, which contain primer and testing reagents, worth ¥400,000 (K5.21 million/US$3600) will boost the country’s ability to prevent entry of the deadly disease. JICA officials said they handed over the first batch of the kits in response to an urgent request from the NHL. The aid agency said Japan will do its best to help Myanmar in the fight against COVID-19.
“Myanmar has had relatively higher rates of infection from major infectious diseases compared to other ASEAN counties, which requires it to strengthen its capacity to respond to and diagnose such diseases,” the statement said.
“Since 2005, through Japan’s development assistance, JICA has provided technical cooperation to enhance the country’s capacity to handle major infectious disease.”
The NHL has been designated by the Ministry of Health and Sports as the lead institution to perform diagnosis of suspected COVID-19 cases.
The laboratory performed parallel testing for COVID-19 with the World Health Organization’s designated laboratory, with consistent results.
The NHL began independent testing for COVID-19 last Thursday. As of Monday, 40 people suspected to have the disease had tested negative, and Myanmar had no confirmed cases..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, Japan-Burma relations
Language:
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Sub-title:
Myanmar has ordered home quarantine for 22 people who had contact with a South Korean woman tested positive for COVID-19 in Seoul shortly after returning from a trip to Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, the Health Ministry said.
Description:
"It said that so far the 22 people who had contact with the 34-year-old South Korean woman have not shown symptoms of the disease.
The South Korean, who is now in Seoul, visited Myanmar for five days from February 13 to 17. It was not yet determined where she contracted the disease. Prior to visiting Yangon, the South Korean woman, from Gyeongnam Region, visited Malaysia. She also went to Vietnam before returning to Seoul on Sunday, where she was diagnosed positive of the disease, according to a report of Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention sent to the Myanmar Health Ministry.
The Myanmar Health Ministry has not yet reported any case of COVID-19 infection in the country since the outbreak was first reported on December 31. Dr Khin Khin Gyi, deputy director of Contagious Disease Prevention and Eradication for the Department of Public Health, said all the 22 quarantined people are in good health.
"They have no sign of fever, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. They are all in good health condition," she told The Myanmar Times on Tuesday.The Yangon Health Department is closely monitoring the 22 people and was instructed to inform higher authorities if any of them develop fever, cough, sneezing and shortness of breath.
The 22 were told to wash hands frequently with soap and water, to cover their mouth when they cough or and sneeze with disposable tissues or clothing..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Two townships in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state face shortages of food staples, including rice, and rising prices, after China shut down border checkpoints in an effort to contain its coronavirus outbreak, a local lawmaker said Tuesday.
More than 20,000 residents of Chipwi and Hsawlaw townships will face shortages from now until China opens the border crossings, closed until the annual monsoon season begins in late May, said Khaw Marwu, a legislator from the Lisu National Development Party who represents the Hsawlaw constituency.
The two cold, mountainous regions along with Kawnglanghpu township lie in remote areas that are difficult to access as roads are rare, he said. Residents earn their living by farming, hunting, and selling forestry products.
The Myanmar military and a number of armed groups are present in the region, including the rebel Kachin Independence Army (KIA); the National Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), an armed group that was converted into a Border Guard Force under Myanmar military command; and the Lisu and Rawang militias..."
..
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, Food Security and displacement in Burma, China-Burma relations
Language:
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Description:
"More than 130 Myanmar citizens working at a brick making site in China’s province of Yunnan have returned home as they fear the coronavirus, according to a statement released by anti-human trafficking police on February 24.
Those Myanmar workers are 50 men and 88 women including those from Myakaing village, Kyauktan Township, Yangon Region. As the workers no longer wanted to work in China for fear of the coronavirus, they contacted the consul general’s office for help. Then, the office contacted the Yunnan Province government for further action. The authorities then sent the Myanmar workers to Chinshwehaw, a border checkpoint between Myanmar and China.
The statement said that arrangements were made to send them home after they had received medical checkups at Hopan People’s Hospital..."
Source/publisher:
Eleven Media Group (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, Burma's economic relations with China, China-Burma relations
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Sub-title:
A Chinese-owned bag factory in Yangon abruptly announced its shutdown on Monday due to a lack of raw materials caused by the COVID-19 epidemic in China.
Description:
"The Lucky Sky Bags factory in Mya Sein Yaung industrial zone in Hlaing Tharyar township gave no notice to its workers, some of whom were on strike, before shutting down on Monday.
U Myo Zaw Htay, one of the leaders of the strike, called for the factory’s licence to be revoked and its 20 Chinese employees deported.
"They got a seven-year tax exemption for investing in Mya Sein Yaung industrial zone,” he said, “but it operated for just 11 months.”
The factory, which has 642 workers, makes leather bags for export to Europe.
The workers went on strike from January 31 to February 11 to protest against unfair labour practices, which made it difficult for the factory to meet export deadlines and resulted in a decline in orders, according to the workers.
After reaching an agreement with the factory on February 11 the workers returned to work.
But 10 days later, the labour union's secretary was fired for no reason, so the workers protested and the factory shut down, U Myo Zaw Htay said. The factory management vowed to pay the workers compensation.
Lucky Sky Bags was the third Chinese-owned company to shut down in the past three weeks due to the COVID-19 outbreak that has infected over 79,000 people globally..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, Burma's economic relations with China, China-Burma relations
Language:
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Summary:
"The Health Ministry on Sunday warned that Myanmar remained at risk of an outbreak of the coronavirus and advised people to avoid mass gatherings. The public caution was issued as the death toll from...
Description:
"The Health Ministry on Sunday warned that Myanmar remained at risk of an outbreak of the coronavirus and advised people to avoid mass gatherings. The public caution was issued as the death toll from the virus continued to rise both in and outside China, where the epidemic originated.
The virus, officially known as COVID-19, has killed more than 2,500 people in China, with the total number of confirmed infections there reaching 77,150 as of Monday afternoon, according to Chinese health authorities. Outside China, South Korea had reported 763 confirmed cases as of Monday with seven deaths. Infections have been reported as far away as Italy, where 150 cases have been found. However, China’s neighbor Myanmar has yet to report any cases.
As of Sunday night, the country’s Health and Sports Ministry declared, no COVID-19 patients had been found in the country.
The ministry on Sunday warned people to avoid mass gatherings as much as possible, despite the absence of any local cases so far, emphasizing that with the number of infections still rising in China, a local outbreak was still possible.
“Only essential gatherings should be allowed and, if held, participants must strictly follow the precautionary guidelines issued by the ministry,” it said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Bilateral border trade between Myanmar and China declined by US$209 million from Jan. 23 to Feb. 18 compared to the same period last year due to the spread of coronavirus, according to U Khin Maung Lwin, assistant permanent secretary for the Ministry of Commerce.
The value of border trade through the Muse, Chinshwehaw, Lweje and Kanpiketi border trade zones totaled over $270 million—a decline from $479 million in the same period last year. “It was mainly because of the COVID-19 outbreak and Chinese New Year holidays. The holidays started on January 23 and normally end in early February,” U Khin Maung Lwin told The Irrawaddy.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the value of daily trade through the border trade zones was between $10 million and $14 million. Since the outbreak, it has dropped to between $1 and $2 million per day, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
“Border trade has recovered slightly since trade resumed after February 13, but travel restrictions are still in force and watermelons are therefore not selling,” said U Khin Maung Lwin. “Around 40 trucks of honeydew melon have been exported to China as some Chinese supermarkets have bought them online. Also, only limited volumes of marine products are being exported as airlines have not yet resumed flights in the area.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, Burma's economic relations with China, China-Burma relations
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Description:
"Myanmar's military donated protective equipment to help China in its battle against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on Tuesday.
The donation including 90,000 pieces of surgical masks, 90,000 pieces of N-95 respirators and 90,000 pairs of safety goggles were handed over to Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai at the Nay Pyi Taw International Airport.
"The donation is as part of humanitarian assistance to portray closer military cooperation with China," said General Mya Tun Oo, chief of general staff of Myanmar Army, Navy and Airforce, extending wishes for speedy recovery from the epidemic in China.
Ambassador Chen said it is a critically important moment for China in fighting against the virus now and expressed his belief that China will win the battle against the COVID-19 soon.
A military aircraft loaded with the protective gears left Myanmar's airport to Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan province, on Tuesday after the donation ceremony..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, China-Burma relations
Language:
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Description:
"Deaths due to the novel Covid-19 coronavirus have exceeded 2,600, including 2,592 deaths in mainland China, as of the end of 23 February.
The number of confirmed infections surged to more than 79,000, with the cases in mainland China crossing 77,100. In other countries, the cases reached at least 1,300.
Across China, the total number of new coronavirus cases has progressively decreased. Furthermore, daily recoveries have surpassed new confirmed infections since 18 February.
The total number of recoveries rose to more than 24,900 globally..."
Source/publisher:
Pharmaceutical Technology
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Sub-title:
A Myanmar pilgrim in the holy city of Gaya in India was discharged from the hospital after he was tested negative for the deadly COVID-19 virus, a Myanmar health official said on Saturday.
Description:
"“This passenger has no travel history from China and he hasn’t contacted any person who is suffering from infection,” Dr U Aung Tun, adviser to the Health Ministry, told The Myanmar Times. “He is discharged from the hospital today after test showed he was negative for the new corona virus.”
Dr Vijay Krishana, superintendent of the Anugrah Narayan Medical College Hospital where the victim was confined, told the local media in India that the hospitalization of the Myanmar man was in line with India’s protocol to address the problem of COVID-19 epidemic.
The festive season in Bodh Gaya starts in September and reaches its peak in February. A large number of Chinese pilgrims visit different monasteries and the Mahabodhi Temple every year during this time.
Thousands of pilgrims from Myanmar, China and other countries flock to the 18th-century Vishnupad Mandir riverside temple with an octagonal shrine, the ancient Mangla Gauri Temple and the Brahma Kund pond where Hindu devotees take a bath before honoring their deceased ancestors atop Pretshila Hill.
“This year, pilgrims from China haven’t arrived following restrictions due to spread of coronavirus,” according to a local Indian tourism official..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Myanmar’s garment factories are facing the risk of shutdown as the coronavirus in China has restricted imports of raw materials, according to the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA).
Myanmar imports up to 90 percent of raw materials from China and the rest from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea for the garment industry which largely uses a cut-make-package (CMP) model. The number of deaths from the coronavirus outbreak in mainland China rose by 136, pushing the nationwide death toll to 2,004, the country’s National Health Commission reported (today) Wednesday. There are over 70,000 confirmed cases across the country. Many businesses, including suppliers for Myanmar’s factories, are struggling to function properly.
“We have problems as 90 percent of raw materials come from China. We are waiting for the day when the Chinese side will resume operations,” garment manufacturer U Myint Soe said.
Representatives from the Commerce Ministry and the MGMA met on Monday to address the issue, but no solution was found..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
The measurement of the oxygen saturation.
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Public Health
Language:
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Description:
"Yangon Region government ethnic Karen Affairs Minister Naw Pan Thinzar Myo said that entry into Myanmar by Chinese tourists fell by about 30% after some of the Chinese flights were banned at Yangon International Airport after the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
She was speaking at a press conference on Friday held by the Yangon Region Legislative Assembly, Tourism Affairs Committee.
Minister Naw Pan Thinzar Myo said, “Most of the Chinese tourists came to Myanmar in Yangon-Ngwesaung 3-night, 4-day tours. Each of them spent an average of 200,000 kyats. So we lost this income earning from them but this is the global crisis. If we let them enter our country to avoid income loss we will have the risk of being infected with this virus.” During the five days before the banning of Chinese airlines entering Myanmar, over 6,200 tourists visited Myanmar but this number fell to just over 3,900 during five days after the banning of these airlines, according to the Yangon Region Government.
Before the outbreak of coronavirus in China, two Myanmar airlines and 14 Chinese airlines were regularly operating between the two countries.
Currently only four airlines coming from four cities namely Kunming, Shanghai, Mansi and Guangzhou are permitted to continue their flight operations..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, China-Burma relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Thursday called for countries to resume bilateral trade and people-to-people ties with China, saying it had taken “forceful action” to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
These efforts were working, he said, referencing how China had reported its lowest number of new cases on Thursday since Wuhan city in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, was locked down on January 23.
“China is not only protecting its own people but also the rest of the world,” he said at a special Asean-China meeting held in Vientiane, Laos.
“The outbreak may have some impact on the Chinese economy, but such impact will only be temporary and limited,” Wang said..."
Source/publisher:
"South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
Language:
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Sub-title:
The National Health Laboratory (NHL) has acquired the medical kits needed to help health professionals around the country verify suspected cases of the deadly COVID-19 virus, a senior Health Ministry official said on Thursday.
Description:
"Dr Khin Khin Gyi, deputy director of Contagious Disease Prevention and Eradication for the Department of Public Health, said the NHL facility in Yangon is up and running.
“The NHL will test two suspected cases at Waibagi Hospital in Yangon and Mandalay General Hospital who arrived in the country on Wednesday,” he said.
“We won’t have to send samples to Thailand’s National Institutes of Health for testing anymore because the NHL’s tests are absolutely equal to those in Thailand,” she added. The NHL received the 450 test kits from the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science in Thailand, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the ministry’s daily update, 37 people are under investigation and two are suspected to be infected with COVID-19 at government hospitals.
Thailand’s NIH cleared 36 of them after their nasopharyngeal swabs tested negative. One person who is being treated at Magwe Regional General Hospital is still waiting for test results from the NIH.
The ministry has approved the discharge of 26 suspected cases from state and regional government hospitals.
“The patients who have been treated at government hospitals are improving, and no confirmed cases of coronavirus have been found in Myanmar,” Daw Khin Khin Gyi said.
The government allocated K300 million (US$206,000) from the emergency fund for prevention and treatment of COVID-19, according to Health Minister U Myint Htwe. China said Thursday there are more than 75,725 confirmed COVID-19 cases globally, and the death toll has reached 2126. Some 16,330 patients have recovered from the disease.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern on January 31..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Countries have closed off their borders with China, airlines have slashed flights, and hotels have seen a big drop-off in bookings.
Description:
"Last month, on January 19, Myanmar’s state-run newspaper left no question as to what was the biggest story of the day. The paper carried page after page of dry reports documenting the movements and meetings of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Inside were photos of Xi and Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, sitting in gilded chairs behind a table draped in red, yellow, and green fabric, the colors of Myanmar’s flag. A parade of officials had taken turns posing in front of them, clutching red folios that each contained one of the dozens of freshly signed agreements between the two countries. The visit marked the start of the “Myanmar-China Bilateral Cultural and Tourism Year.” Buried inside the same edition of the paper was a single article, plucked from the AFP newswire, detailing alarm by medical experts in London over the spread of a “mysterious SARS-like virus in China” and warning that the scale of the outbreak was “likely far bigger than officially reported.” Of the two stories, this is the one proving to be more important to Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and the world.
The illness, now officially labeled COVID-19, has raced across the globe, infecting tens of thousands of people and killing more than 2,000, predominantly in China. Countries have closed their borders to Chinese travelers; airlines have slashed flights and limited routes. Points of transit across Asia—train stations, bus depots, airports—have seen traffic plummet, and some are nearly deserted. Leaders in Beijing are undertaking a sprawling lockdown and quarantine on a scale that is difficult to comprehend. The impact on the global economy is still yet to be fully understood..."
Source/publisher:
"The Atlantic" (Boston)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-20
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, China-Burma relations, Tourism in Burma - articles and studies
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Description:
"Novel Coronavirus အကြောင်း သိကောင်းစရာ စကားဝိုင်း (၂)
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ဝူဟန်ရောဂါလို့ လူသိများနေတဲ့ တရုတ်နိုင်ငံဝူဟန်ဒေသက Novel Coronavirus ဗိုင်းရပ်ကြောင့် သေဆုံးသူ (၂၀၀)ခန့်ရှိလာပြီဖြစ်တဲ့အတွက် အတော်များများကစိုးရိမ်နေကြပါတယ်။ … ဒီရောဂါ ဘယ်ကနေ ဘယ်လိုပေါ်လာတာလဲ၊ ဘယ်လိုကြိုတင်ကာကွယ်နိုင်မလဲ၊ မီဒီယာတွေမှာ ဒီအကြောင်း ဘယ်လိုဖေါ်ပြနေသလဲ၊ အများပြည်သူဆီ ပညာပေးမှုလမ်းကြောင်းတွေက ထိရောက်မှု ရှိရဲ့လား။
… စတဲ့ အကြောင်းအရာတွေနဲ့ပတ်သက်ပြီး ဒီရောဂါအကြောင်း ဆောင်းပါးတွေရေးနေသူ Hello Doctor က ဒေါက်တာသူရိန်လှိုင်ဝင်းနဲ့ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ မီဒီယာကောင်စီက ဦးဇေယျာလှိုင်တို့ကို One News က ဖိတ်ခေါ် ဆွေးနွေးထားပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher:
"One News" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Novel Coronavirus အကြောင်း သိကောင်းစရာ စကားဝိုင်း (၁)
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ဝူဟန်ရောဂါလို့ လူသိများနေတဲ့ တရုတ်နိုင်ငံဝူဟန်ဒေသက Novel Coronavirus ဗိုင်းရပ်ကြောင့် သေဆုံးသူ(၁၇၀)ခန့်ရှိလာပြီဖြစ်တဲ့အတွက် အတော်များများကစိုးရိမ်နေကြပါတယ်။ ဆိုတော့ ဒီရောဂါကဘယ်ကနေဘယ်လိုပေါ်လာတာလဲ၊ ဘယ်လိုကြိုတင်ကာကွယ်နိုင်မလဲ၊ မီဒီယာတွေမှာကောဒီအကြောင်းဘယ်လိုဖေါ်ပြနေသလဲ၊ အများပြည်သူဆီပညာပေးမှုလမ်းကြောင်းတွေကထိရောက်မှုရှိရဲ့လား။
… စတဲ့ အကြောင်းအရာတွေနဲ့ပတ်သက်ပြီးဒီရောဂါအကြောင်းဆောင်းပါးတွေရေးနေသူ Hello Doctor က ဒေါက်တာသူရိန်လှိုင်ဝင်းနဲ့ မီဒီယာကောင်စီက ကိုဇေယျာလှိုင်တို့ကို One News က ဖိတ်ခေါ် ဆွေးနွေးထားပါတယ်။
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တွေ့ဆုံမေးမြန်းသူ - ထက်အောင်ကျော်
ပါဝင်ဆွေးနွေးသူ– ဒေါက်တာသူရိန်လှိုင်ဝင်း( Hello Doctor)၊ ဦးဇေယျာလှိုင် (မြန်မာမီဒီယာကောင်စီ)
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အပိုင်း (၂)ကို မနက်ဖန်ညနေမှာ ဆက်လက်ထုတ်လွှင့်ပေးမှာဖြစ်ပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher:
"One News" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Sub-title:
Covid-19 not as deadly as Sars, figures show, and children not affected in same way as adults
Description:
"Covid-19, the new coronavirus that has killed nearly 1,800 people in China, causes only mild disease in four out of five people who get it, the World Health Organization has said.
“It appears that Covid-19 is not as deadly as other coronaviruses, including Sars and Mers,” said the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that officials were “starting to get a clearer picture of the outbreak”.
The conclusion comes from analysis of data from Chinese authorities relating to 44,000 cases of Covid-19 in Hubei province, where the coronavirus was first recorded.
“More than 80% of patients have mild disease and will recover, 14% have severe disease including pneumonia and shortness of breath, 5% have critical disease including respiratory failure, septic shock and multi-organ failure, and 2% of cases are fatal,” Tedros said in Geneva. “The risk of death increases the older you are.”
He said children were not suffering from Covid-19 in the same way as adults, and more research was needed to find out why. There were still gaps in understanding that he hoped the WHO’s team of international experts would be able to work towards filling..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Sub-title:
Health officials in China have published the first details of more than 44,000 cases of Covid-19, in the biggest study since the outbreak began.
Description:
"Data from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) finds that more than 80% of the cases have been mild, with the sick and elderly most at risk.
The research also points to the high risk to medical staff.
A hospital director in the city of Wuhan died from the virus on Tuesday.
Liu Zhiming, 51, was the director of the Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan - one of the leading hospitals in the virus epicentre. He is one of the most senior health officials to die so far.
Hubei, the province Wuhan is in, is the worst affected province in the country.
The report by the CCDC shows the province's death rate is 2.9% compared with 0.4% in the rest of the country.
The findings put the overall death rate of the Covid-19 virus at 2.3%.
China's latest official figures released on Tuesday put the overall death toll at 1,868 and 72,436 infections..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
COVID - 19 (Coronavirus) - Update News from February 16, 2020.
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-17
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Sub-title:
U Kyaw Aung, who is about 50-years-old, moved from Maubin in Ayeyarwady division, to a slum in Yangon over ten years ago. Over 60 migrant households live in the same squat at the corner of Seikkan Thar Street and Wutmasut Wun Htauk Street in Industrial Zone No. 4, Yay Okkan Ward, Hlaing Tharyar township.
Description:
"As the lanes are muddy with stagnant water, their huts were built on elevated stilts – to keep the interiors dry and clean from the sludge outside. Ramshackle bamboo bridges connect one hut with another. Most dwellers work in the nearby industrial zones.
The surroundings are unsanitary, and the houses lack proper plumbing for toilets. As residents frequently bathe outside, it is a breeding ground for diseases like cholera, diarrhea and skin infections. Residents face many health issues every year. Dengue fever is caused by a virus carried by mosquitos, which are attracted to the abundance of still water surrounding the houses. Other health issues like cholera are caused by contact with fecal matter, caused by lack of sanitation from toilets.
The Hlaing Tharyar township is home to the highest number of migrant workers in Yangon, with nearly 50,000 squatter households, officials said. Whenever an infectious disease occurs in Yangon Region, Hlaing Tharyar usually suffers the most from infectious disease outbreaks..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-17
[field_licence]
Type:
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Sub-title:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Surveillance Dashboard (Myanmar)
Description:
"(၁၅-၂-၂၀၂၀) ရက်နေ့၊ ညနေ (၈:၀၀) နာရီအချိန်အထိ တိုင်းဒေသကြီး/ ပြည်နယ်အသီးသီးတွင် စောင့်ကြည့်လူနာ (၉) ဉီးတို့အား သက်ဆိုင်ရာဆေးရုံများ၌ ဆက်လက် စောင့်ကြပ်ကြည့်ရှုကုသမှုပေးလျက်ရှိပြီး ၄င်းတို့၏ ကျန်းမာရေးအခြေအနေမှာ သက်သာကောင်းမွန်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Health and Sports (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
Update news from 2020-02-12
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Protect yourself and your family from outside infections
1. Stay home when possible, avoid planes, buses, trains, queues, busy areas.
2. No visitors, avoid close contact with symptomatic people or potential carriers, don’t share cups.
3. No handshakes, kisses, hugs. Don’t kiss babies. All outside surfaces, money.
4. Gloves and meticulous hand hygiene, don’t touch eyes, nose mouth.
5. Wash hands, warm water and soap or hand sanitizers.
6. Catch it - bin it - kill it.
7. Coughs and sneezes spread diseases.
8. Faecal contamination, meticulous hand and surface hygiene.
9. Wear a quality medical mask or n95.
10. Wrap around glasses.
11. Avoid hospitals, limited visiting.
12. Good nutrition, vitamin D.
13. Keep warm, sleep, family life.
14. Thoroughly cook meat and eggs.
15. Avoid public spaces and wear a mask at home if you start to feel ill with fever..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"We have a name "COVID - 19"..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"COVID - 19 Definitions" By Dr. John Campbell
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"A review of how this virus is currently named and how the disease is diagnosed..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Union Minister for International Cooperation Kyaw Htin met Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai on February 14 in Nay Pyi Taw and discussed Myanmar’s donation of 200 tons of rice to coronavirus-hit China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
“We don’t know about exact date of the donation. We are still coordinating as to whether the rice will be transported by ship or through border. But we will try to send it as quickly as possible,” said Aung Ko, director general of the Political Department.
The minister praised the Chinese people for their united efforts to fight and control 2019 novel coronavirus under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and expressed his belief that the problem could be overcome.
The minister also expressed thanks to the Chinese government for its assistance and cooperation in evacuating Myanmar students from the city of Wuhan, said the press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs..."
Source/publisher:
Eleven Media Group (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, China-Burma relations
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Description:
"Corona Virus Disease, abbreviated as COVID-19. CO VI D 19..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
COVID - 19 (Coronavirus) - Update News from February 14, 2020.
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"NEJM, 12th February 2020, Journey of a Thai Taxi Driver and Novel Coronavirus..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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Description:
"Despite around one-per-cent decline in the global TB transmission every year, TB transmission in Myanmar is declining by 4.8 per cent every year, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports.
According to the Global TB report 2019, 338 in 100,000 populations around the globe suffer from TB and 39 in 100,000 populations die of TB.
According to the WHO’s estimate, one-fourths of the global population have latent Tuberculosis infection. According to the End TB, Myanmar has set a goal of reducing the number of TB patients to less than 10 in one million population in 2035.
The ministry detected and cured around 140,000 TB patients despite the estimated number of 180,000 TB patients in 2018. The ministry’s mobile TB screening teams carried out accelerated TB case findings in rural areas, remote areas, worksites and prisons etc.
For the eradication of TB, the government allotted a budget of Ks 14 million in 1995-1996 FY, Ks 626 million in 2010-2021 FY and Ks over 4,000 million in 2018-19 FY, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports..."
Source/publisher:
Eleven Media Group (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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Description:
COVID - 19 (Coronavirus) - Update News from February 4, 2020.
Source/publisher:
Dr. John Campbell
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health
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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 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that was first reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU) (Yangon)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Tuberculosis and other lung/respiratory tract diseases, Public Health, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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