With COVID-19 infections continuing to rise in Arakan State, almost 20,000 locals residing along the Kaladan River in Kyauktaw Township have recently left their homes for safer places due to ongoing armed conflict in the area. 

At least 166 homes in Phayarpaung and Taungpauk villages in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township were burned to the ground on September 3, according to village officials. 

A young woman from Buddaw village in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, was seriously injured after stepping on a landmine on September 5, according to a family member of the victim. 

The Union Election Commission is coordinating with the Ministry of Health and Sports to make arrangements allowing people under COVID-19 quarantine to vote on Election Day, according to U Myint Naing, a member of the UEC.

Random testing of 550 people in Sittwe has turned up multiple coronavirus-positive cases, according to an official from the Department of Public Health in Arakan State.

A coronavirus-positive patient who attempted to flee Maungdaw Hospital was captured and is being held in detention at the hospital in northern Arakan State, Maungdaw District Deputy Commissioner U Soe Aung said. 

The military has told the Union Election Commission (UEC) that the security situation in some Arakan State townships is very concerning, offering its assessment just over two months ahead of the scheduled vote.

Homes in Phayarpaung and Taungpauk villages in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township were set ablaze at about 9:30 p.m. on September 3, according to locals.

The bodies of two villagers from Phayarpaung village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, were found with gunshot wounds on the morning of September 4, said family members of the deceased. 

Ramree Township now stands alone, the only township in Arakan State yet to report a COVID-19 infection during the recent outbreak of the virus, and preventive measures are being stepped up in the township, according to local hospital authorities and civil society organisations.

Arakan State has become the new front line in Myanmar’s fight to contain and treat COVID-19, but that does not appear to have led to reduced collateral damage from the ongoing armed conflict in the state. 

The group Justice for Myanmar set up a mirror website on September 2, one day after the military watchdog’s original site was blocked by the Myanmar government.

Space for vehicle parking is inadequate at the Kyauktan temporary terminal in Sittwe Township, Arakan State, according to drivers. 

Two teenage girls were wounded by shrapnel after an artillery shell allegedly fired by the military landed in Kyauktaw Township’s Alaekyun village at about 9 a.m. on September 3, according to family members of the victims and an Arakan State lawmaker. 

The Union Election Commission (UEC) has defended its rejection of would-be general election candidate U Phoe San, saying the decision on the basis of his son’s association with the Arakan Army was in accordance with the law.

The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement on September 1 provided K40,000 (US$30) per family to war refugees in Buthidaung Township, with the government cash assistance intended as financial relief during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Arakan State. 

Any COVID-19 cases that exceed Manaung Hospital’s 10-patient coronavirus capacity will be transferred to the 100-bed hospital in Taungup, according to Dr. U Saw Min, the superintendent of Manaung Hospital.

The United Nations office in Myanmar has pledged its full support for efforts to combat a recent COVID-19 outbreak in Arakan State, and urged the warring sides in the state’s armed conflict to “heed the Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire” amid the pandemic. 

Some households in Sittwe say they have not received any government cash assistance during the stay-at-home period put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Arakan State.