Some of Arakan State’s main crab exporters have suspended their businesses due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s ongoing third wave, while others are significantly scaling back operations to survive, according to crab traders.

Many express passenger buses in Arakan State have pivoted to transporting goods instead of people as the ongoing third wave of Covid-19 keeps traveller demand low and adds onerous restrictions for bus line operators.

An illegal fishing boat sailing from Yangon to Bangladesh was intercepted by the Myanmar navy on August 20, with its crew subsequently detained in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township. 

The Shwe Pyi Tan ferryboat service, which temporarily suspended its operations on July 20 in an effort to help curb the spread of Covid-19, will resume operations on August 24, according to an official from the ferryboat service. 

As many as 50,000 displaced people from Arakanese and Muslim IDP camps in Arakan State will be vaccinated against Covid-19, a member of the Arakan State military council told DMG on Saturday. 

Arakan State recipients of Covid-19 vaccines supplied by China during the pandemic’s ongoing third wave will receive their second jab starting later this month, according to Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state’s Department of Public Health.

Former Pyithu Hluttaw lawmaker for Myebon Township U Pe Than, who had remained a member of the Steering Committee for Policy Affairs of the Arakan National Party (ANP) even after the military voided the 2020 election results earlier this year, has resigned from the party.  

Reopening of the border trade camps in Arakan State will depend on the status of the Covid-19 pandemic in neighbouring Bangladesh, according to the head of the Arakan State military council’s information team, U Hla Thein. 

Local youth organisations in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U District have provided basic food items to support families and members of the grassroots who are struggling to make ends meet during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The number of Covid-19 infections and deaths reportedly dropped in most Arakan State townships this week, with the exceptions of Gwa and Kyaukphyu townships.

Farmers in Arakan State say they are facing difficulties as fertiliser prices have increased by as much as 50% this year.

A low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal crossed Auritha beach in India before it became a depression and as a consequence, Arakan State will get more rain over the next two days, according to U Hla Tun, deputy director of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

People with disabilities in Arakan State are facing difficulties with their livelihoods and medicines during the third wave of Covid-19, the Disabled People’s Association (DPA) in Arakan State said.

Camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Arakan State capital Sittwe are in need of basic foodstuffs, according to managers of the camps.

The Gandaryi camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township was reportedly locked down after a 21-year-old woman from the camp was found to be infected with Covid-19 on August 18. 

Despite the depletion of forest resources in Arakan State and the need for timely conservation efforts, illegal logging has been increasing during Myanmar’s current political unrest, said Dr. Maung Maung Kyi, chairman of the Rakhine Coastal Region Conservation Association (RCA). 

More than 1,000 people in Myanmar have been killed by security forces since the military coup on February 1, according to data compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

Passenger buses and ferryboats plying routes between townships in Arakan State are allowed to operate in accordance with the Covid-19 rules and regulations, Arakan State Minister for Road Transport Police Col. Thet Lwin told DMG.

Civil society organisations in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, are scheduled to supply basic food items such as rice, cooking oil and iodised salt to camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the township for up to six months.