Covid-19 rules strictly enforced at border trade camps in Arakan State: official

27 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
27 July 2022, Sittwe

The Arakan State Health Department is strictly enforcing Covid-19 rules and regulations at border trade camps in the state, according to officials from the department.

Covid-19 rules are enforced on those who have returned from Bangladesh to Arakan State at the Shwe Mingan border trade camp in Sittwe and border trade camps in Maungdaw, said Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state Public Health Department.

“On their return, those who are not yet fully vaccinated are quarantined. They are tested for Covid-19, and if they test positive, they have to stay in hospital,” he said.

A total of 55 boat crew who returned to Arakan State after shipping cargo to Bangladesh were placed under quarantine at Shwe Mingan border trade camp in Sittwe, and tested for Covid-19 earlier this month. Eight of them tested positive for coronavirus, and were admitted to hospital.

All of them are doing well, and some have already been discharged from the hospital, said Dr. Soe Win Paing.

“We have sent samples [to Yangon] to check if the virus is Omicron. However, we still don’t know the results,” he said.

Arakan State recorded 4,264 Covid-19 cases with 37 deaths in the first and second waves of the coronavirus pandemic in Myanmar. In the third wave between July 2021 and January 30 of this year, 5,247 Covid-19 cases were reported with 501 deaths, according to the Arakan State military government.

Since February, new coronavirus infections have declined dramatically both in Arakan State and across Myanmar. The Ministry of Health said just 11 new cases were reported nationwide on July 27, down from a peak of about 6,000 new infections reported daily at the height of the virus’s worst wave in July of last year.

No new coronavirus infections had been reported for months in Arakan State, until the first week of July when the cases were reported among the boat crew that had returned from Bangladesh.