The number of domestic and foreign visitors to Arakan State is on pace for its third consecutive year of decline as armed conflict between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army continues to batter tourism, joined this year by the COVID-19 pandemic, said the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism in Arakan State.

Commodity prices have soared in Paletwa Township, Chin State, where locals are also facing shortages of household items as all major transport routes leading into the area have been cut off, according to residents.

The Food Security Working Group (FSWG), a nongovernmental organisation involved in food security-related issues in Myanmar, has demanded the release of a man from Bu Shwe Maw village, Taungup Township, who was abducted last month. 

Eight displaced people who illegally returned to Arakan State from Bangladesh were located in Buthidaung Township on June 5 and are now under quarantine, said Buthidaung Township administrator U Shwe Hla Aung. 

The growing popularity of a beach and coral reef along the Manaung Township coast has fuelled an adjacent land dispute, according to the Pyin Kauk village administrator.

The senior monk of the Thein Tan village monastery in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, has spearheaded an effort to restore the crown of the township’s Mahamuni Pagoda Buddha image, said the chairperson of the pagoda’s board of trustees. 

Five men facing charges under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law were questioned by Tatmadaw officers from the No. 5 Military Operations Command at a police station in Arakan State’s Taungup Township on June 4, according to the accused. 

Four more men entered Myanmar illegally from Bangladesh days after a cross-border case of COVID-19 was reported in Maungdaw Township, said U Soe Aung, the administrator of Arakan State’s Maungdaw District. 

One civilian was injured and houses were damaged by an artillery shell in Dotekan Chaung village, Kyauktaw Township, allegedly launched by naval forces in the area, according to the village administrator.

Dozens of ward and village administrators from Arakan State’s Myebon Township submitted resignation letters to their local General Administration Departments on June 5, following the recent detention of three of their peers on terrorism charges. 

In a bid to enable teachers to access new curricula and other learning materials from the Ministry of Education, the Department of Basic Education will install DBE (Department of Basic Education) boxes at schools in Arakan and Chin states that lack internet connectivity.

An 81-year-old man and his son, from Kon Baung Gyi village in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, were reported missing five days ago and have yet to be found, according to their family members.

People who have had close contact with coronavirus “Case No. 234” from Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, will not be placed under facility quarantine, Maungdaw district hospital superintendent Dr. Kyaw Maung Maung Thein told DMG.

A COVID-19 patient in Thandwe Township, Arakan State, tested negative for the disease last week and verged on being considered a recovered case only to test positive again three days later, said the superintendent of the Thandwe district hospital.

With basic education schools set to reopen in July, education administrators in Arakan State plan to rely on sessions of schooling as one strategy for allowing as many students as possible to attend classes while observing 6-foot social distancing protocols in the COVID-19 era.

Village administrators are concerned for their safety and well-being after an administrator from Myebon town’s North Ward, in Arakan State, was taken from his home by a combined squad of Tatmadaw troops and policemen. 

A 17-year-old who was seriously injured during an April shelling of Kyauk Seik village in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township recently had to have his leg amputated, family members said. 

The Department of Public Health (DPH) under the Ministry of Health and Sports has reported 48 cases of dengue fever in Arakan State during the period from February 1 to June 1 of this year.

A spokesperson for the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) said the government bore some responsibility for the detention of three of its members, allegedly by the Arakan Army.