Villagers gathered at night to see the lists of Covid-19 infected in their township in Rakhine State on August 26.

  AN. Sittway. August 27, 2020 

“The village administrator is announcing with loudspeaker this morning. Everyone has to stay at home. From 8 pm to 6 am, no one is allowed to get out of home at night. If anyone from our village has to go out to somewhere, he/she needs to have a document from the village administrator. No visitor or guest from other village is allowed to enter this village at night time. If any guest from other villages comes to Yawta York village, he/she has to wear mask,” one of the villager from Yawta York tells our news agency this morning.

 

Yawta York village is located on Yangon-Sittway Highway in Ponnaygun township, about one and half hour drive from Sittway. 

 

The villager does not want to publish his name for personal security concern. 

He said, “I do not know how the poor villagers and casual labors will get foods to eat if they cannot go out to collect vegetables in the fields and mountains and catch fishes in the rivers and brooks; they cannot go out and look for jobs now. How will they feed their families? This is big problem right now.”

Ministry of Health and Sports announced last night that effects every township today, total of 15 townships in Rakhine State, and every resident has to stay at home. No car nor people is allowed to cross borders between wards, villages, and towns except for the person who is performing duty. The announcement said in case of more residents than the requirement to go out from their residential villages and towns for emergency and necessary reasons, they have to have permit documents from the ward and (village) administrators.

 

The ministry announces today it has 189 virus positive residents in Rakhine State since August 16. 

 

Charity volunteers in Mrauk U and Pauktaw township reported that the watch-out and positives patients have many difficulties when they are called to stay at the hospital and designated locations. 

 

Charity volunteer Khine Murn Chun in Mrauk U requests on his Facebook account individual donors for helps. He writes the virus positives and watch-out patients are facing difficulty for foods. 

 

Similarly, a volunteer in Pauktaw township wrote on his Facebook account. “When I helped a woman with a child who were called to quarantine in the city hall needed everything. There was no bed-mat, pillow, blanket, drinking water, and foods for the patients. I donated a battle of drinking water and 10,000 Kyat. There are many cases like that he wrote.

 

A positive patient’s wife in Pauktaw wrote on her Facebook account in the title of “Let Higher Authorities Know.” 

 

She wrote her family got a phone call from health department about 8 am on August 25 her husband was infected with virus and asked to packed all stuffs. At 1.30 pm some people came to her house and accompanied her husband to the hospital. They said they got everything at the hospital. But her husband did not get even water to wash the face so that he had to use the drinking water next morning. She said no food was provided at lunch time. She could not deliver foods to her husband because she has a 2 years old child. Her brother in law fed her husband. 

 

She continued and said she and her child were called to the city hall for quarantine. She asked the authority she wished to stay at home since she had a small child. But the authority forced her to stay at the city hall. She said she and her child might get more virus at the crowed city hall than at home. Thus, she asked how would the authority manage to assist the trouble people like her. 

 

Many local people are disappointed for the government poor managements. They feel the government is not preventing the virus spreading but making millions of people starve to die. 

“We need foods more than we need night curfew and stay-at-home,” wrote an activist on social media.

Trade routes from proper Myanmar and main cities of Yangon and Mandalay to Rakhine State have been closed since August 22. City to city and village to village trading is stopping. 

 

For several weeks and months likewise shutdown and lockup over the millions of local populations in Rakhine State, they think they will definitely lead to famine without having assistance from the government for foods, medicines, and bailouts. 

 

Relatively, Rakhine people are already very poor and majority are living with day to day earning and colleting foods in the forests, mountain, and rivers as agriculture community. 

 

Local people are also wondering why the international community does not respond and help the Rakhine people during the highest threat of virus and outbreak. 

 

Government is still restricting Internet services in 9 virus effected townships, but military is bringing more troops day and night to Rakhine State.