The domestic gold price in Myanmar surged on September 7, the day the National Unity Government (NUG) declared a “people’s defensive war” against the country’s military regime, hitting a record high of nearly K1.8 million per tical of 24K gold. 

The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) has welcomed a proposal from Erywan Yusof, ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, for a four-month ceasefire by all sides to allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the country.  

Local people in Paletwa Township, Chin State, are facing various difficulties as they are being restricted from leaving their homes after 11 a.m. due to rising Covid-19 infections.

A Covid-19 patient in Sittwe who was recently identified as having been infected with the highly contagious Delta variant was discharged from hospital after recovering, said Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Department of Public Health. 

Raft-fishing businesses in Arakan State, which have been hit hard by both the second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, are expected to restart operations at the end of this month.

Two people arrested on August 26 for violating a local stay-at-home order imposed in Gwa Township were sentenced to one month in prison each under Section 188 of the Penal Code. 

The Myanmar military has summoned some local Muslim administrators in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, telling them not to accept an offer of police and administrative training courses to be provided by the Arakan Army (AA), according to the ward and village administrators.

Mandalay-based university students issued an emergency statement on September 7, saying they would be at the forefront of the fight against the military dictatorship as the anti-regime movement enters a potentially more dangerous new phase. 

Although the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has declined in Arakan State over recent weeks, the disease remains a threat, cautioned Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state’s Department of Public Health, urging the public to stay vigilant and live in line with health guidance.  

The Myanmar military has been encamping at Pazunpyae village, in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, for two days, according to the village-tract administrator.

Random Covid-19 tests have been conducted to gauge the prevalence of coronavirus among people in Arakan State, according to the Arakan State Department of Public Health.

More than 10,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State returned home of their own volition in August.

The Arakan State military council has arranged to reopen the border trade centre in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State. 

The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her stepfather in Makyayngu village, part of Arakan State’s Gwa Township, has been told not to take part in the case, but says she will continue to press the trial.

The head of Padin, a Muslim village in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, was released by a group of kidnappers on Friday, more than two weeks after he was taken from his home in the middle of the night.

Civil war has intensified in Myanmar after the military seized power, the three members of the Northern Alliance — the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — said in a statement on September 4. 

Ferryboat services in Arakan State, most of which temporarily suspended operations in an effort to help curb the spread of Covid-19, will resume route-running next week.

Patrols are being conducted to protect wild elephants along the Arakan (Rakhine) Yoma Elephant Range, the only elephant sanctuary in Arakan State, in cooperation with residents of villages around the sanctuary, according to a local conservationist. 

Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, director of the Health Awareness Division of the Public Health Department under the Ministry of Health, has warned that the coronavirus’s Delta variant now present in Myanmar is highly contagious and more likely to result in family infections.