IDPs worried after monk at Sittwe monastery camp tests positive for COVID-19

By Myo Thiri Kyaw 10 Dec 2020

Myo Thiri Kyaw | DMG
10 December 2020, Sittwe

Internally displaced people in Sittwe say they are concerned about what their futures might hold after a monk from a monastery where IDPs in the Arakan State capital are taking refuge tested positive for COVID-19.

The monastery in Pyi Taw Thar ward has been under lockdown since December 8 after the monk was found to have been infected.

Ashin Agga Pandi, a monk teacher from the monastery, told DMG that he was worried about not being able to meet the food and healthcare needs of more than 150 IDPs during the lockdown.

The World Food Programme offered donations to 15 monks at the monastery after it was placed on lockdown, Ashin Agga Pandi said.

“All people in the camp are in good health at the moment. There are health workers from an NGO. I am worried about their food and well-being,” he said.

U Maung Tin Oo, manager of an IDP camp at Sittwe’s Wipissa Wardi Monastery, said camp residents adhere to COVID-19 preventive regulations so that it would not require lockdown.

“We are worried that our IDP camp could be under lockdown. So, we wear masks and wash our hands as much as we can. Health workers also visit the camp once a week,” he said.

Ko Nay Myo Tun, manager of an IDP camp in Sittwe Township’s Shwe Pyi Thar village, said there are 187 IDPs at the camp and about 10 of them are ill, but health workers have not visited since September.

“Other IDP camps are provided healthcare services once a week. But IDPs from our camp have to go to private clinics, by pawning their gold items,” he said.

There are 28 IDP camps and other temporary shelters in Sittwe Township housing about 5,000 people, according to the Rakhine Ethnics Congress.

There are more than 194,000 IDPs in Arakan State due to conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army, it said.

According to figures from Arakan State’s Department of Public Health, there were a total of 3,818 COVID-19 positive cases and 32 fatalities in the state as of December 8, and 3,482 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals statewide.