Hundreds Of Myanmar Military Regime Border Police Infected With COVID-19

JAKARTA - More than 100 members of the Myanmar military regime border guard police and their families in northern Rakhine State have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days, with one person dead.

The policeman who died of the infection was said to be a sergeant who served at the border guard post in Ywetnyotaung village, in northern Maungdaw Township.

His body was taken to the Maungdaw District General Hospital on July 3, according to Dr. Nu Kay Thi Zan, the head of the hospital, quoted Myanmar Now on Wednesday, July 7.

"Two people died in Maungdaw. The border guard sergeant arrived dead at the hospital. He was diagnosed with the virus in a post-mortem examination", the doctor explained.

On the same day, a 60-year-old man from Maungdaw City who was hospitalized for being infected with the coronavirus was also declared dead.

Around 105 border guard police and their family members recently tested positive for coronavirus in Maungdaw and 50 in Buthidaung.

On June 28, 91 police officers and their family members tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Maungdaw. It is believed they may have caught the virus while traveling together on the ferry. The head of the Maungdaw District General Hospital said they had been quarantined.

Meanwhile, about 20 people, including 14 border guard police and their family members, later tested positive on July 3. Those infected in Maungdaw include education staff, bank employees, immigration staff, and customs staff.

Separately in Buthidaung, some 50 Myanmar police officers and their families relocated from elsewhere in Myanmar recently tested positive, according to Buthidaung General Hospital chief Dr. Saw Min Thein.

Most were tested on July 1, after two police officers who moved to Buthidaung from Yangon tested positive for the virus on June 29. Following later 48 others were reported to be infected with the coronavirus.

"So far there has been no local transmission in Buthidaung. The 50 people who have tested positive are border guard police and family members who were transferred from Yangon", he explained.

Buthidaung and Maungdaw cities have the highest COVID-19 infection rates in Rakhine State. In Maungdaw itself, at the time of reporting, there were 179 positive cases, 170 of which were undergoing medical treatment.

Restaurants in Maungdaw have been closed except for takeaway orders starting Saturday, with border trade reportedly closing soon, according to the military council in Rakhine State. During the pandemic, banks, schools, and previous border gates remained open in the township, which borders Bangladesh.

"Many people who came from the mainland to work here tested positive for COVID-19 at the start of the third wave of the pandemic, and it shows that the COVID-19 prevention, testing process, and quarantine process has not been effective", said the ethnic armed Arakan Army (AA) who active in Rakhine State in his statement on July 5. The letter asks people to comply with the AA health directive.

For information, cited from Worldometers, Myanmar recorded a total of 171.976 cases of COVID-19 infection with 3.513 people killed, while 140.387 patients were declared cured as of Wednesday, July 7.

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