"Myanmar's numerous unresolved ethnic insurgencies have made a cohesive national response to the global COVID-19 pandemic virtually impossible. Until this week, the government had little or no contact with over a dozen armed groups, many of which are ranged along the borders with China and Thailand. Dissident minorities have so far been largely left to develop their own responses to the pandemic. Along Myanmar's northern border with China, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) -- the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) -- has been fighting Myanmar's military since a 17-year ceasefire broke down in 2011. According to the United Nations, an estimated 107,000 Kachins are internally-displaced persons (IDPs), and living in 173 camps in the region. Myanmar's government has restricted humanitarian access to KIO-controlled areas for years. In KIO-controlled areas, a possible COVID-19 contagion is of most concern among the IDPs. Living conditions in their camps are cramped and hygiene poor..."