Myanmar’s New COVID-19 Cases Decrease in Yangon but Climb Outside City
By Zaw Zaw Htwe 26 October 2020
YANGON—Myanmar is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases outside Yangon, amid a slowing of new cases in the commercial capital.
The number of new cases reported in Yangon each day has been decreasing over the past two weeks since reaching a peak of more than 1,900 cases on Oct. 10.
However, at least 20 to more than 100 new cases have been reported daily in other areas including Rakhine State and Bago, Mandalay and Ayeyarwady regions.
As of Sunday, Yangon, which has been Myanmar’s COVID-19 hotspot, had reported 35,138 cases, followed by Bago Region with 2,384, Rakhine State with 2,711, Mandalay with 1,583 and Ayeyarwady with 883.
In a televised speech on Friday evening, Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged people from Yangon, Bago and Rakhine to follow precautions due to the high rate of cases in their areas.
However, the situation in Yangon appears to be easing and the spread of the virus in the city is being brought under control, the State Counselor said.
“It is just the beginning of containing the spread [of the virus]. I don’t mean it is totally under control,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said.
“We need to keep going to bring the spread of the virus totally under control,” she said.
Professor Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, vice chairman of Yangon’s COVID-19 Prevention, Control and Treatment Committee, said last Friday that daily cases in the city have been decreasing since nearly 2,000 were reported on Oct. 10.
Daily cases had flattened to around 800 to 1,000, he said.
“Everyone is responsible for continuing the daily decrease in COVID-19 cases. No one can be careless. Everyone needs to comply with the COVID-19 prevention guidelines and instructions,” Dr. Zaw Wai Soe said.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi warned that stay-at-home orders and COVID-19 instructions are still in force in the city. She urged the public to be patient and comply with the instructions.
Myanmar has been experiencing a second wave of COVID-19, with a sharp rise in cases since Aug. 16, when the country’s first domestic transmission in a month was detected in the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe.
As of Monday morning, Myanmar had reported 44,774 COVID-19 cases, including 1,095 fatalities and 24,920 recoveries.
Cases have been reported in more than 200 townships across the country’s 15 regions and states.
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