Kyaukphyu teacher on duty at polling station tests positive for COVID-19

By Kyaw Thu Htay 12 Nov 2020

Kyaw Thu Htay | DMG
12 November 2020, Sittwe 

A schoolteacher on duty at a polling station on Election Day has tested positive for COVID-19 in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, and 34 people who had contact with her have been quarantined, according to the Kyaukphyu Hospital superintendent.   

As the 30-year-old teacher lost her sense of smell since being on duty at the polling place in Kyaukphyu’s Zediya ward on November 8, she had a swab sample taken and tested positive for COVID-19, said Dr. Ye Lwin Maung, the Kyaukphyu Hospital superintendent. 

“All her contact persons have been quarantined. All the voters wore masks as they came into the booths,” he said. 

Seven family members of the patient, 14 poll station workers and the Zediya ward administrator are among 34 people who have been quarantined.  

The polling location where the COVID-19 patient was on duty had more than 1,700 eligible voters registered, out of which over 700 cast ballots on Election Day. 

The hospital superintendent said because almost all voters cast their ballots on Sunday in accordance with the COVID-19 directives from the Ministry of Health and Sports, there are no plans to send the voters to quarantine centres. 

In Kyaukphyu Township, there were 356 COVID-19 infections and 346 had been discharged from hospitals as of November 11. Currently, there are eight patients hospitalised, and township-wide there have been two COVID-19 deaths.