Arakan State News Summary (July 1-7, 2021)

By DMG 08 Jul 2021

1 July

• Two schools and two classrooms in Maungdaw Township were temporarily closed after four teachers were found to be infected with Covid-19.
• A 4-year-old child in Minbya Township tested positive for coronavirus.
• Trade at the Kanyin Chaung Economic Zone in Maungdaw Township was reportedly being hampered by damaged roads in the area.
• A total of 93 border guard police, immigration staff and their family members in Maungdaw Township were diagnosed with Covid-19.  

2 July

• The ranks of the coronavirus-infected rose to 160 border guard police and their family members in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.
• A final prosecution witness testified in the case of four Arakanese students facing charges under the Natural Disaster Management Law for a protest they participated in last year in Sittwe.
• U Khin Maung Than and U Zaw Tun from Kyein Chaung village in Mrauk-U Township were robbed while they were fishing in the Sar Thae Ma Creek.
• With no place to properly dispose of waste in Kanhtaukgyi town, Myebon Township, residents are dumping their garbage along Kanhtaukgyi Creek, according to locals.
• Only 16 tonnes of overall weight will be allowed for trucks in Arakan State during the monsoon seasons, said the Thandwe District Roads and Bridges Department, which cited concerns about the structural integrity of roads and bridges in the state that require repairs.
• Scores of houses in Lekka village, Mrauk-U Township, and Hpar Pyo village in Minbya Township, which were reduced to ashes in clashes between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army, have been rebuilt with the help of the Arakan State military council.
• U Myo Oo, the 42-year-old administrator of Sin Gaung village-tract, was killed in a knife attack at his home by a group of eight people after having an argument with them and refusing to come along with them.
• A nighttime curfew was extended for another two months in Ann Township.
• The Township Development Committee in Maungdaw issued a letter instructing restaurant and tea shop owners to limit service to takeaway orders only to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

3 July

• An additional 20 cases of Covid-19 were reported in Maungdaw Township, with one infected individual dying due to underlying illness.

4 July

• Five recovered Covid-19 patients and 27 people under quarantine due to close contact with coronavirus-positive patients were discharged from the hospital in Thandwe Township.
• A teacher from a primary school in Wah Taw Pyin village, Kyaukphyu Township, and her younger sister tested positive for coronavirus.
• The Maha Garunadaw Education Foundation in Taungup town, which provides education for students internally displaced by conflict (IDPs), said it is in need of donors for food and ferrying of the students.

5 July

• The Arakan State military council said it would temporarily close border trade centres as Covid-19 infection rates continued to rise not only in Arakan State but also in neighbouring countries.
• Two prosecution witnesses were heard by the Taungup Township Court in a case against three Taungup residents, including a member of the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), who have been charged under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law.
• The United League for Arakan (ULA) released a statement warning that the coronavirus death toll in Myanmar was on a trajectory to exceed the first and second waves of the pandemic.
• More than 30 border guard police members tested positive for Covid-19 in Maungdaw Township, according to a senior medical officer from Maungdaw District.

6 July

• The well-known Myanmar vocalist Htoo El Lynn is lending a helping hand to internally displaced people in Arakan State. He said he would leave for Arakan State on July 6 to help Arakanese IDPs, and planned to work with a group of motorcyclists there.
• A male coronavirus patient died of the disease in Taungup Township.
• Six people tested positive for coronavirus in Kyeintali sub-township, Gwa Township, said Dr. Kaung Mrat San, the medical superintendent of Gwa General Hospital.
• U Kyaw Than Maung, 43, of Kywe Htoe village in Ponnagyun Township, died after being struck by lightning.
• An internally displaced couple from Wibizatadi IDP camp in Sittwe died from food poisoning.
• As of July 6, eight teachers and 13 students were reported to have been infected with Covid-19 in Arakan State, according to the Arakan State Education Office.
• A basic tailoring course was opened at Yan Aung Myin camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Buthidaung Township.

7 July

• As part of efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 in Mrauk-U, vegetable and meat vendors at the Myoma Market were to be temporarily relocated to Warit Taw Grounds near the old town hospital from July 7, according to the township development committee.
• There were 214 cases of dengue fever reported in Arakan State from January to July 6, according to a source from the state’s Department of Public Health (DPH).
• Fifteen people including eight police officers tested positive for coronavirus in Thandwe Township.
• The Myoma Market Committee and the township council in Sittwe agreed that a lockdown would be imposed on Myoma Market in the Arakan State capital if vendors there did not sell in accordance with Covid-19 regulations.