AFP, Daily Star

China has supplied over 10,000 Covid vaccines to a Myanmar rebel group operating near its southern border, its spokesman said yesterday, as Beijing seeks to halt the influx of cases from the crisis-wracked country.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military took power in February, with a resurgent virus wave striking with many hospitals empty of pro-democracy medical staff.

The Kachin Independence Army, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Myanmar's far north, has received 10,000 vaccines from Yunnan authorities, Col Naw Bu, a spokesperson for KIA told AFP.

"KIA asked help from China, and China gave us help for vaccines," he said, without specifying which shot the group had been given or when the first batch had arrived.