Public health advocates in Sittwe launched a mask and face shield distribution campaign at seven busy junctions in the Arakan State capital on November 23 as the numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths are once again on the rise in the state. 

Ten human rights organisations released a statement on Monday urging the immediate and unconditional release of students across the country who have been arrested for protesting rights abuses in Arakan State, with the joint communiqué also demanding the dropping of charges against them. 

An Ayeyarwady Region man was released from prison on November 23 after completing his sentence on charges of unlawful association and illegal publication of a controversial calendar, the freed man and his family said.

About one-fifth of the female candidates who ran in this month’s general election for seats in Arakan State emerged victorious, including two women who will be only the second and third sworn in as lawmakers in the state legislature.  

More than 42,000 ballots were invalidated or “missing” in the November 8 general election in Arakan State, according to the state election subcommission.

Locals in Paletwa Township, Chin State, which shares a border with northern Arakan State, want access to the Kyauktaw-Paletwa waterway restored at a time when fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) has eased.

Myanmar’s Fisheries Department has warned of the need to better protect marine resources along the Arakan State coast, which has been assessed as the resource-poorest of the country’s three coastal regions.

Disputes over government subsidies during the coronavirus pandemic have reportedly erupted between ward and village administrators and the public in some Arakan State townships.

A female COVID-19 patient with no comorbidities died at Sittwe General Hospital in the Arakan State capital on November 20, according to the Arakan State Department of Public Health (DPH).

A tidal surge of the Gantgar River has overwhelmed an embankment gate in Kyaukphyu Township, resulting in the flooding of more than 400 acres of paddy and jeopardising the crops of some 200 farmers, locals said.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are concerned about the dangers of landmines and other unexploded ordnance from fighting in the region as some have begun to return to their homes in recent days.

The Arakan Army (AA) on Saturday said it has treated well the three National League for Democracy (NLD) candidates that it abducted last month, adding that it would release them when the two sides reach mutual understanding.

Lawmakers-elect from the Arakan Front Party (AFP) have promised to prioritise the interests of local people in implementation of the China-backed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, where the party won three seats in this month’s general election.

A COVID-19 patient died at Maungdaw District Hospital in Arakan State on November 19, according to the district’s Public Health Department, the third to succumb to the disease at that hospital this month.   

A young Muslim man from Halapai village in Arakan State’s Minbya Township was seriously wounded when he stepped on a landmine on November 20, according to residents. 

A participant of a memorial service held this week for eight Arakan Army cadets killed in a 2014 Tatmadaw attack on a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) training school in northern Myanmar has been arrested, according to sources. 

Some 4,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering at IDP camps in some Arakan State townships have reportedly returned to their homes this month to harvest monsoon paddy as fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) has eased. 

A monk who had tested positive for COVID-19 and was receiving treatment at Kyaukphyu District Hospital in Arakan State passed away on November 19 and his monastery has been subject to quarantine measures, according to the administrator of Kyaukphyu Township.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) on Wednesday reiterated calls for the release of three of the party’s candidates who were abducted by the Arakan Army (AA) during election campaigning last month.