Some streets in Myeik District, Taninthayi Region, have been locked down after seven monks and seven people coming from Yangon Region have tested positive for Covid-19, said a health official. 

Myeik District reported 14 confirmed cases on October 1 – five in Myeik Township and nine in Pulaw, Palauk and Pala towns. 

After an administrative official in Kangaung Ward in Myeik had tested positive, some other people in close contact with him were also infected. 

“We carried out tests on those in close contact with the first patient and five more were infected. They are his wife, two people next door and a child. Some monks arrived at Kyauktaung Monastery in Kyauktaung Village, Pulaw Township to reside there. They themselves were in quarantine at the monastery. When the samples of 10 monks were tested, seven were found infected with the virus. The remaining cases are two family members including a cancer patient,” said Dr Lwin Lwin Maw, head of Myeik District Public Health Department. 

Infections were found after 66 monks, four student monks and two drivers from Zabuaye Monastery and Thirimingalamon Monastery in North Oakkalapa Township, Yangon Region, came to Kyauktaung Monastery on September 21. 

“In Myeik, Kangaung area is on lockdown. We have collected a list of population. A total of 556 people in 13 households in 66 houses have been locked down. We traced contact persons and 19 were sent to a quarantine center,” Daw Lwin Lwin Maw said.