COVID-19 Ravages Myanmar Nursing Home
By Zaw Zaw Htwe 19 October 2020
Yangon – A total of 86 people from the Shwe Than Lwin Home for the Aged in Yangon have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the regional health authorities.
The nursing center in Dagon Seikkan Township has 66 residents aged between 70 and 90, according to the township’s health authorities.
It has 56 other people, most of whom are staff, living there.
Dr. Aye Muyar Kyaw, director of the township’s health department, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that 62 of the 66 residents tested positive for coronavirus last Thursday after five staff and their relatives tested positive on Oct. 14.
A total of 86 COVID-19 patients, including four elderly people with chronic illnesses, have been treated at Yangon’s temporary COVID-19 center at Thuwunna and 48 residents and 22 staff from care homes are also being treated at a temporary hospital at Fortune Plaza in Thaketa Township.
Dr. Aye Muyar Kyaw said 10 elderly COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions, including hypertension and diabetes, have been treated at the temporary Phaunggyi COVID-19 hospital in Hlegu Township in Yangon.
Two staff at a care home who tested positive have been treated at Phaunggyi’s COVID-19 hospital. The two patients have been assigned to take care of 10 elderly patients at the hospital.
“The elderly patients have no COVID-19 symptoms,” said Dr. Aye Muyar Kyaw.
The other 26 staff at the care home and the four residents who tested negative for COVID-19 have been quarantined at their center.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Health and Sports said 66 percent of the country’s COVID-19 deaths have been among the over-60s.
Myanmar has been experiencing a second wave of COVID-19 since Aug. 16 when the country’s first domestic transmission in a month was detected in the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe.
Since Aug. 16, Myanmar has reported 35,651 COVID-19 cases and 874 deaths, compared with 374 cases and six deaths from March 23 to Aug. 16.
On Monday morning, Myanmar reported 36,025 COVID-19 cases, including 880 fatalities and 17,076 recoveries.
On Sunday at noon, Myanmar’s COVID-19 hotspot, Yangon, reported 28,526 cases followed by Rakhine State with more than 2,500 cases.
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