YANGON—It has been more than two weeks since Myanmar detected its first COVID-19 case. As of Monday afternoon, the country had reported a total of 22 cases, including one death.
According to Myanmar’s Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS), 1,340 people had been tested for the coronavirus as of Monday, with 1,318 testing negative. From Jan. 31 to April 4, Myanmar quarantined about 160 people at hospitals and nearly 66,500 people at other quarantine centers.
Of the 22 positive cases, eight were locally transmitted while 14 were imported from French, US, UK, Australian, Singaporean, Swiss, South Korean and Thailand, the ministry said.
Of the surviving patients, 19 are in stable condition while two are in intensive care, the MOHS said.
Since the scale of the coronavirus—which initially emerged in Wuhan, China—began to escalate in late January, the Myanmar government has implemented precautionary measures including banning public gatherings, canceling the Thingyan traditional New Year water festival and temporarily suspending the issuance of visas to nationals of all foreign countries except diplomats, UN officials, and the crews of ships and aircraft.
Last week, Myanmar formed an emergency task force comprising officials from both military- and civilian-controlled ministries to draw up measures to boost law enforcement and stability and to step up government efforts to respond to the outbreak in the country.
Moreover, with Myanmar’s traditional New Year holiday period—normally celebrated with the Thingyan water festival—set to begin next week, state and regional governments have imposed additional restrictions on residents’ movements, including ordering people to stay home, shutting down public transportation networks and banning festive activities in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The Myanmar government believes the eventual scale of the coronavirus outbreak in the country will depend to a large extent on the steps taken this month.
Here, The Irrawaddy breaks down the key data on the COVID-19 outbreak in Myanmar, including COVID-19 clusters, and the travel histories and contacts of the patients who have tested positive so far.
Note: This story was edited on April 8, 2020 to correct an editing error regarding the origin of the imported coronavirus cases in Myanmar.
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