Community transmission cited as six more Covid cases found in Maungdaw, Thandwe townships

26 Jun 2021

DMG Newsroom
26 June 2021, Maungdaw

A police lieutenant from the Anti-Narcotics Task Force in Maungdaw and three family members of a schoolteacher in Thandwe who earlier tested positive for Covid-19 were among six new cases of the virus reported in the two Arakan State townships on June 25-26.

None of the three patients in Maungdaw Township had travel histories, said Dr. Nu Kaythi San, superintendent of Maungdaw District General Hospital.

All three were men, one of whom fell ill and was sent to Maungdaw General Hospital on June 23, when he initially tested negative for the virus. A second test on June 25 came back positive, according to the hospital superintendent.

The infected police lieutenant tested positive on Saturday, having quarantined after his wife first contracted the virus.

“Health workers have investigated their close contacts. We don’t know the number yet,” said Dr. Nu Kaythi San.

Maungdaw Township has recorded 10 coronavirus cases this month. Among them, seven have been classified as community transmission while the three others were described as illegal returnees from Bangladesh.

Meanwhile in Thandwe, the township hospital’s medical superintendent confirmed that three family members of a schoolteacher who had previously contracted Covid-19 also tested positive for the virus on Friday.

Twenty people were quarantined and tested after they had close contact with the schoolteacher from Thandwe town’s Kywel Thauk Kone basic education middle school, who was found to be infected on June 24.

Four confirmed virus patients — the teacher and three family members — and some individuals with suspected coronavirus are currently being treated at Ngapali Hospital and all are in good condition, said Dr. Ye Win Tun, medical superintendent of the Thandwe Township Hospital.

When DMG contacted the chairman of the Thandwe Township military council to find out whether the Kywel Thauk Kone school was currently open and how it was operating, he replied that he was busy with a meeting.

“The school is open. The students have not been here since yesterday,” said an unnamed resident living nearby. “Parents did not send their children because they feared they would become infected after hearing news about the Covid-19 infection.”

There are about 900 students at the school, and parents are concerned about their children’s health.

Jaittaw Ward Administrator U Min Naing said that no instructions had yet been given on whether to close Kywel Thauk Kone middle school.

“The school is open. There are children who go to school and children who do not. The instructions have not yet been given whether the school will be closed or left open. We will know after it is decided at a meeting tomorrow,” he said.

About 100 patients have tested positive for Covid-19 in Arakan State during the ongoing third wave of the virus, with Sittwe reporting the most cases among the state’s 17 townships.