It has been more than six months since the COVID-19 pandemic has begun. The spread of the virus across the globe is accelerating. Some countries are now seeing resurgences. Now the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide has surpassed 10 million after the WHO warned of the acceleration of global pandemic.
Till the third week of June, the COVID-19 daily case count in some Asian countries including Myanmar exceeded more than 20,000.
As of 27 June, there have been 293 confirmed cases and six fatalities in Myanmar. So far, 215 patients have recovered. The recovery rate is more than 73 per cent. The Ministry of Health and Sports is treating patients with severe COVID-19, using the plasma from the recovered patients. Thanks to plasma treatment, seven patients have recovered.
Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, Director of the Central Infectious Diseases Control Department at the Ministry of Health and Sports said: “Seven patients recovered after getting plasma treatment. There are no patients at the Intensive Care Unit. Two pregnant patients are in stable condition. There are 133 imported cases and 160 local transmission cases. Except Kayah State, other regions and states reported the cases. To sum up, imported cases are reported only in five regions and states and local transmission cases in 10 regions and states. Yangon Region reported both cases. Yangon Region tops the list of virus cases with 204. The case reported among those in facility quarantine is 67 per cent and the cases among the Persons Under Investigation is 22 per cent. The cases reported among those in other quarantine are 11 per cent.
The imported cases among the returnees from India top the list with 46, followed by returnees from Thailand with 26, returnees from Malaysia with 18 and Bangladesh with nine. Myanmar is ranked 7th in the list of COVID-19 cases reported in ASEAN countries. We should not be careless of the present situation. Concern over the pandemic alone is not enough. The public’s participation in the virus preventive works plays a crucial role.
It is found that the public are getting weaker in the following the directives issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports due to a drop in the number of new patients and local transmission rate and the transmission among the quarantined returnees.
Dr. Sithu, a GP from Myanmar Medical Association said: “Since the inspection, most people were very fearful of the virus. They put on high-priced facemasks, washed their hands, kept social distancing and followed the stay-at-home rule. Even disinfectants were sprayed on their bodies. Now, these practices have disappeared. Only a handful of people exercise these practices. But now restaurants, beer pubs and tea shops are crowded with people. The government allows the shops to reopen due to the livelihood. Despite the reopening of factories, the COVID-19 pandemic has not finished yet. I would like to urge the public to follow the disciplines.”
Though Myanmar can control the spread of COVID-19 to a certain degree, the imported cases among the returnees are still reported. The Ministry of Health and Sports has urged to the public to stick to four-point health notice in order that the country can put the virus under control. The ministry has requested the public to avoid crowded places, wear facemasks whenever they go to crowded places, maintain six-feet social distance and wash their hands.
“People seemed not to follow health instructions like one or two months ago as I saw many people are sitting at tea shops and beer stations like they are drinking them free. The plastic screens in shops are placed at the middle of the tables and people who came together to the shops chatted with a plastic visor between them at the shops. But there is no plastic partition with people from other tables. I assume people are not afraid anymore or they are just used to the COVID-19,” said a person who visited the beer stations in Yangon regularly.
The Ministry of Health and Sports urged people to follow its instructions and guidelines as Myanmar will be freed from COVID-19 virus after no COVID-19 patient is found within 28 days.
The nature of a pandemic makes its infection rate may increase slowly or stop or decrease slowly or increase abruptly. It cannot be predictable and Myanmar may find COVID-19 patients in large numbers across the country, it said.
At the present, there are people who didn’t follow the guidelines and there may be people who didn’t show symptoms of COVID-19 virus. If that may happen, it will be difficult to control the pandemic.
“The food shops in Yangon reopened in early June and those in the outskirts of Yangon reopened at the end of May. So people who lived in the town went to the shops in the outskirts. Most of the shops in the outskirts of Yangon have plenty of spaces and it is not noticeable that there are many tables and chairs around you. The shops provided wash basins, hand sanitizers and partitions. They also hung posters about the COVID-19. The people initially followed the rules but they are being careless now. They didn’t watch their hands often and didn’t use hand sanitizers. They also didn’t wear face masks,” said Ko Si from Kyaukmyaung.
The ministry conducted a survey through its Facebook page from May 7 to 20 about how the people follow the guidelines set by the Ministry of Health and Sports and 13,663 people took part in the survey. 56 per cent of them are women and most of them are bachelor holders. Three out of four people who took part in the survey are either from Yangon or Mandalay regions and it is about handwashing habits, social distancing, wearing masks and gathering information.
About one out of two people said they didn’t wash their hands for 20 seconds and three out of four people said they didn’t stay 6 feet away from others. Four out of five people said they wore face masks while going outside.
“Among the guidelines set by the ministry, one thing people cannot follow is social distancing. Yangon has no safe social distancing in homes and not even in public transport. People cannot stay home as all people are gone out to work for a living. We sometimes stay closely in our work and cannot wear masks all the time at work also. So I wore masks when I used public transport and washed my hands if I remembered to wash them,” said Lin Aung, a company staff member from Mingalar Taungnyunt Township.
At present, Germany, South Korea, Japan and neighbouring China are facing COVID-19 resurgence and some countries strict restrictions over COVID-19 again. The death tolls caused by the pandemic are still increasing in countries and the World Health Organization is categorizing the pandemic as highly dangerous and people need to follow guidelines set by the MOHS to prevent the spread of COVD-19 second wave in Myanmar.
