A 20-year-old worker at a farm in Mrauk-U District, Arakan State, was found stabbed to death in a field some 5 miles from the town of Mrauk-U on June 27.

Arakan State recorded its first fatality linked to Myanmar’s third wave of coronavirus infections as the total number of cases over recent weeks rose to 119 on Monday, but a state military council spokesman said schools and border trade gates would remain open for the time being. 

A bank employee, a police lance corporal and four staff from the Thandwe Township Court are among the latest cases of Covid-19 reported in Arakan State as the number of cases statewide has surpassed 100 in recent days.   

U Zaw Win Tun, chairman of an interim organising committee of the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), was abducted by an unidentified group of armed men on Monday in Sittwe, with family members expressing concern for his well-being.

Eight human rights groups have called on the international community to take action on behalf of victims of torture by the Myanmar military, using the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26 to do so.

As more and more cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Arakan State, parents are worried about their children’s health, according to students’ parents.

A police lieutenant from the Anti-Narcotics Task Force in Maungdaw and three family members of a schoolteacher in Thandwe who earlier tested positive for Covid-19 were among six new cases of the virus reported in the two Arakan State townships on June 25-26.

Ko Kyaw Than Hlaing, a former chairperson of the Arakan Social Association-Japan (ASAJ), was arrested at Yangon International Airport on Friday upon returning to Myanmar from Japan, according to family members.

Four Arakanese students who were charged under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and Section 29 of the Disaster Management Law for staging an anti-war protest last year again appeared before the Sittwe Township Court on June 25.

A sailing competition that could not be held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic is back again this year in Arakan State’s Manaung Township. The sailing competition had been held annually in Manaung for a decade prior to last year’s interruption. 

The Sittwe Township Court again heard the case of former Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu, who has been charged with incitement, on June 25 via video conferencing system.

Displaced residents of Tinma village in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township have made an agreement with the military council to return home in October, villagers said.

Buds of nipa palm grown along the coast of Arakan State are dried and produced as an herbal tea that some purveyors say has numerous health benefits.

Six cases of Covid-19 were reported in Sittwe, Taungup and Maungdaw townships on June 23, according to the Arakan State Department of Public Health. 

The Shwe Karuna Foundation, which provides free medical treatment to cataract and kidney patients in Arakan State, is facing financial difficulties, according to foundation officials.

Some children from camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are suffering from skin rashes, redness and dengue fever, as well as nausea, fevers, and diarrhoea, according to civil society groups and IDP camp officials.

A woman from an area 4 miles from Maungdaw town tested positive for Covid-19 on June 24, according to the Maungdaw District Hospital.  

Some wards in Ramree town have been inundated by up to two feet of water after days of steady rains in Arakan State, residents said. 

Arakanese civil society organisations have urged authorities to close border trade gates as the number of Covid-19 cases in Arakan State is increasing.