Arakan State on Monday surpassed 500 Covid-19 cases reported during the ongoing third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with infections rising to 509 in total across 11 of the state’s 17 townships, according to the state’s military council.

The number of people infected with Covid-19 in Maungdaw, Arakan State, is increasing and they reportedly need oxygen and food.

The Arakan State military council will temporarily close border trade centres as Covid-19 infection rates have risen not only in Arakan State but also in neighbouring countries. 

The well-known Myanmar vocalist Htoo El Lynn is lending a helping hand to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State.

The Maha Garunadaw Education Foundation in Arakan State’s Taungup town, which provides education for students internally displaced by conflict (IDPs), is in need of donors for food and ideally ferrying for the students.

After being identified as close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases, some families under stay-at-home instructions in Thandwe Township are facing food difficulties. 

A week has passed since an Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) committeeman was abducted by an unidentified group of armed men in Sittwe, with family saying they have not heard from the captive or his captors since he went missing on June 28.  

Five recovered Covid-19 patients and 27 people under quarantine due to close contact with coronavirus-positive individuals were discharged from the hospital in Thandwe Township, Arakan State, on July 4. 

The Township Development Committee in Maungdaw, Arakan State, issued a letter on July 2 instructing restaurant and tea shop owners to limit service to takeaway orders only to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

With no place to properly dispose of waste in Kanhtaukgyi town, Myebon Township, residents are dumping their garbage along Kanhtaukgyi Creek, according to locals.

A nighttime curfew has been extended for another two months, from July 2, in Arakan State’s Ann Township. 

Although a standard hearing for four Arakanese students charged under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and Section 29 of the Natural Disaster Management Law was not held due to Covid-19 concerns, a final prosecution witness has testified regarding the latter charge. 

An additional 20 cases of Covid-19 were reported in Maungdaw Township on July 3, with one infected individual dying due to underlying illness, according to Maungdaw District General Hospital. 

A village-tract administrator was stabbed to death by a group of people in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township at about 10 p.m. on July 2, according to his family members.

As the number of COVID-19 infections in Arakan State reached 348 on Thursday evening, a massive cluster of cases involving Border Guard Force (BGF) personnel and their families in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships was blamed for a significant share of the growing caseload.  

Only 16 tonnes of overall weight will be allowed for trucks in Arakan State during the monsoon season, according to the Thandwe District Roads and Bridges Department, which cited concerns about the structural integrity of roads and bridges in the state that require repairs.

Scores of houses in Lekka village, Mrauk-U Township, and Hpar Pyo village in Minbya Township, which were reduced to ashes in clashes between the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) and Arakan Army (AA), have been rebuilt with the help of the Arakan State military council. 

Trade at the Kanyin Chaung economic zone in Maungdaw town, Arakan State, is being hampered by damaged roads in the area, according to traders. 

Two schools and two classrooms in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township have been temporarily closed from July 1 after four teachers were found to be infected with Covid-19, according to the Maungdaw Township education officer.