COVID-19 Cases Spike Again in Myanmar
By The Irrawaddy 16 February 2022
Myanmar faces a sharp spike of reported COVID-19 cases and 2,467 confirmed cases were recorded by Tuesday night by the junta-controlled Ministry of Health.
The ministry tested approximately 30,770 people and found an infection rate of 8 percent, it said on Tuesday night. It marked a sharp rise from Monday’s figure of 1,586. Three people died of coronavirus on Tuesday.
Last month’s daily infections were in double figures.
A Tamwe resident said: “There are a lot of houses on my street and almost all of them have someone sick.”
Yangon General Hospital, one of Myanmar’s biggest public hospitals, announced yesterday that it had closed outpatient departments for five wards because so many doctors are suffering from COVID-19.
A volunteer from a private health-care charity in Yangon said: “The number of positive cases is increasing. Most people with symptoms are testing positive.”
Some people are storing oxygen tanks because of a scarcity in July 2021.
Observers suspect the actual number of cases will be far higher because many people isolate at home. Swab test results are regularly posted on Facebook.
A doctor, who gives telephone consultations to COVID-19 patients, said few Omicron patients need oxygen. When Delta hit in July about 70 percent of her patients were severely ill but now she has no severe cases.
“Based on my experience, Omicron is less severe than Delta. But, if you are careless, you could still be admitted to intensive care,” a doctor said.
The regime’s health ministry said 550,824 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded since March 2020 with 19,314 deaths and 518,884 recoveries.
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