Arakan State News Summary (July 8-15, 2021)

By DMG 16 Jul 2021

8 July 

• More than 110,000 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in Arakan State since January, the state’s Department of Public Health said.
• Internally displaced people (IDPs) said no arrangements were made to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Arakan State’s IDP camps as the number of cases and deaths related to the virus continued to rise sharply in the state and nationwide.
• Vendors at Sittwe Myoma Market were given notifications saying the market would be placed on lockdown if they failed to abide by Covid-19 regulations, the sellers said.
• All basic education schools, including monastic schools, would be closed from July 9-23, the Ministry of Health and Sports announced. 

9 July 

• Former Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu was indicted as he appeared via video link for a hearing into the lawsuit brought against him under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, an incitement charge.
• Travellers to Kyaukphyu were informed that they would be required to present a document indicating their home address, issued by their respective ward or village administrator, and those unable to furnish the document will have to quarantine for 11 days.
• Plans were being made to install and operate a Chinese-made thermal imaging camera at Shwe Pyi Tan jetty in the state capital Sittwe to detect feverish boat passengers.
• With Maungdaw Township emerging as a Covid-19 hot spot, markets and restaurants would only be permitted to open for business half days, starting July 10, in an attempt to slow the spread of deadly virus, the township administration council said a day earlier.
• The Arakan State military council said it would strictly monitor compliance with Covid-19 regulations issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports with two major religious holidays approaching later in the month.
• Most internally displaced people (IDPs) at Taung Min IDP camp in Kyauktaw Township were said to be suffering from a rash-inducing skin disease.  

10 July 

• Two locals from Kyauksin village in Ann Township were injured in a landmine explosion and one victim’s leg was amputated, while the other was said to be at risk of losing his eyesight.
• Efforts were underway to install an oxygen generator to supply Thandwe District Hospital, and donors were still needed, said U Tayzeinda, abbot of Theingon Monastery.
• A total of 106 traffic accidents, resulting in 75 deaths and 136 injuries, were reported in Arakan State in the first six months of the year, according to the Arakan State Traffic Police.
• Despite up to five people dead of Covid-19 in Maungdaw Township in July, locals were said to be lax in adhering to preventive regulations and guidelines intended to curb the disease’s spread.  

11 July 

• Residents of Lay Taung town in Ramree Township demanded that a new doctor be assigned to the local hospital amid the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the previous physician having been transferred elsewhere and no replacement yet arriving.
• A new oxygen plant will come online by the end of July in Sittwe, according to U Tun Tun Oo, owner of the BMG drinking water factory involved in procuring the machine, as demand for oxygen rises alongside the state’s Covid-19 case count.
• A doctor was among four people infected with Covid-19 in Maungdaw Township.
• Two residents of Khone Taing village in northern Maungdaw Township went missing on July 10 after they went out foraging for bamboo shoots, and were found the next day beaten and bound.  
• A man on a bus travelling to Thandwe from Yangon died en route and was later found to have been infected with Covid-19, with two fellow passengers subsequently also testing positive for the virus.   

12 July 

• Border trade camps were ordered closed from July 15-31 due to the rising rate of Covid-19 infections in Arakan State.
• The Sittwe Township Court fined three Arakanese youths who were charged under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law in connection with a protest they helped organise late last year against human rights abuses.
• Commodity prices in Arakan State have risen by 30-70% amid the ongoing third wave of Covid-19, according to businesspeople and merchants.
• All Ministry of Education employees were instructed to work on a two-week-on, two-week-off rotational basis, with in-person staff levels reduced to 50% to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
• U Min Aung, a former Arakan State MP for the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Taungup Township, had a July 26 arraignment date set to decide whether to prosecute him under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law.
• The deputy head of the Kyaukphyu District Police and the assistant director of the district Road Department succumbed to Covid-19 as the Arakan State death toll since the pandemic’s third wave began rose to 16. 

13 July 

• Eight of the Covid-19 patients in Kyauktaw Township were given supplemental oxygen and if the virus-infected population increased, local healthcare providers might find themselves facing a shortage of it, the township Department of Public Health said.
• Fifty-five of 98 hotels and guesthouses in Arakan State are now open in line with Covid-19 preventive regulations, according to the state’s Directorate of Hotels and Tourism.
• Fifteen out of 856 Covid-19 cases recorded in Arakan State as of July 12 were healthcare personnel from six different townships, said Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Department of Public Health.  

14 July 

• Travel by motorway, waterway, and flight was not suspended in Arakan State but regulations on travelers had been tightened, the Arakan State Administration Council said as Covid-19 infections continued to rise nationwide.
• Visitors from townships where stay-at-home orders are in place would be quarantined upon arrival in Arakan State, a member of the state’s military council told the media.   
• Despite a halt to fighting in Arakan State, some villages in Rathedaung Township have left farmland uncultivated due to the nearby presence of Tatmadaw troops, locals said.
• Strand Road and View Point Beach in Sittwe would be closed on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. due to continuing spread of Covid-19 in Arakan State, according to the state’s military council.
• A woman from Sinbawkaing camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Mrauk-U Township tested positive for Covid-19, prompting a lockdown of the camp.
• Government offices would be closed from July 17-25, the State Administration Council announced.
• Ko Aung Hlaing Win, chairman of the Moe Pyinnyar Dana Philanthropic Association in Taungup Township, was transferred to the Taungup Township police station by the Tatmadaw, according to family members of the detainee. 

15 July 

• With no end in sight to the Covid-19 pandemic’s third wave, a shortage of basic and widely used medicines and concerns about the economic impacts of prolonged disruption to the border trade are reported to be just a few of the knock-on effects being felt across Arakan State.
• Two women infected with Covid-19 in Taungup Township died and total fatalities statewide since June 28 reached 26.
• Installation of oxygen generators was reportedly ongoing at an oxygen plant in Mrauk-U town.
• Two quarantine centres were set up in Minbya Township to house the returnees and suspected Covid-19 patients, according to a member of the township administration council.