Authorities in the Arakan State capital Sittwe put the kibosh on a local charity’s plans to distribute low-cost basic foodstuffs to those in need over the weekend, with the officials citing fears that the event would draw a crowd during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

With spillover creek water entering some wards in Thandwe, Arakan State, on Sunday morning, residents are concerned about the possibility of fresh flooding less than a week after the town was inundated. 

Fifty-eight out of 100 people tested for coronavirus in Arakan State returned positive results in a recent sampling, according to Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state’s Department of Public Health (DPH).

Arakan State does not have enough oxygen and must rely on O₂ supplies from other parts of Myanmar to treat Covid-19 patients in the state, Arakan State Administration Council spokesman U Hla Thein told reporters on Saturday. 

The Arakan Army (AA) said it had detonated stun grenades in the Arakan State capital Sittwe this past week as a warning to those who are failing to follow the ethnic armed group’s Covid-19 stay-at-home orders. 

A total of 175 coronavirus patients died in Arakan State from May 12 to July 30, according to figures compiled by the Arakan State Department of Public Health. 

A pregnant woman infected with Covid-19 died after the delivery at Maungdaw District Hospital on Tuesday, but the newborn is in good health, according to the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr. Nu Kathi San. 

Several houses in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township were damaged by flooding on July 27 and financial assistance is reportedly needed to rebuild those homes. 

Due to the closure of the border trade camp in Sittwe, Arakan State, workers involved in trading and their family members are struggling to make ends meet, according to the workers. 

There were 282 cases of dengue fever reported in Arakan State this year from January to July 26, according to a source from the state’s Department of Public Health (DPH).

A man from a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Nyaung Chaung village, Kyauktaw Township, was attacked by a bear while foraging for bamboo shoots in the nearby forest on Thursday. 

Drivers say the Minbu-Ann road, the busiest thoroughfare for transporting goods from mainland Myanmar to Arakan State, is congested every year during the rainy season.

U Hla Thein, a spokesman for the Arakan State Administration Council, said that despite the outbreak of a third wave of Covid-19, court proceedings would not be adjourned or postponed, and would instead continue as usual.

The number of Covid-19 fatalities in Arakan State during the pandemic’s ongoing third wave has more than tripled the combined total of statewide deaths in the first two waves, but the public remains weak in following virus-related regulations, an Arakan State Department of Public Health (DPH) official told DMG. 

Four inter-village bridges in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, have been damaged or destroyed by flooding in recent days, making it difficult for people from more than 30 villages to travel, with affected locals reportedly in need of food as forecasts call for more rain. 

Oxygen is urgently needed in Arakan State’s Minbya Township, according to the township Covid-19 monitoring group. 

Priority is being given to distribution of Covid-19 protective equipment to camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State, said U Than Tun, a member of the Arakan State Administration Council.

With a rising number of healthcare workers in town being infected with Covid-19, Chin State’s Paletwa faces growing risk of being plunged into a health crisis. 

The Sinbawkaing camp for internally displaced people (IDPs), which was locked down after seven IDPs tested positive for Covid-19, was reopened on July 23 after the virus patients from the camp were discharged from the hospital in good health.