Myanmar’s first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine will inoculate healthcare workers in Myanmar against the deadly virus, but some worry that the shot, which has been supplied to healthcare workers in Arakan State as elsewhere, will have side effects. 

The internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter in an IDP camp at No. 3 primary school in downtown Rathedaung, Arakan State, are struggling to meet basic needs such as food, accommodation and healthcare, according to aid workers and camp officials.

The Northern Alliance — a military coalition comprised of four ethnic armed groups including the Arakan Army (AA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) — is still in the process of negotiating a government peace offer proffered earlier this month.

Six media organisations released a statement on January 25 urging the military to lodge a complaint with the Myanmar Press Council (MPC) before seeking remedy through the court system, in reference to a recent lawsuit brought against a reporter and editor for Development Media Group (DMG). 

The local court in Arakan State’s Taungup Township will hear closing arguments in the case of two former Taungup Township development committee chairmen who were arrested in May along with two others over their alleged ties to the Arakan Army (AA).

The Women’s Network Rakhine State (WNRS) organised an anti-hate speech campaign on January 23 in several Arakan State townships. 

Pyin Kauk village in Manaung Township, Arakan State, host to crowd-drawing coral reef just off its coast, will be designated a community-based tourism (CBT) village, according to the state’s Directorate of Hotels and Tourism.

Officials say they are planning to return 99 Muslims to Arakan State after they arrived in Yangon Region’s Shwepyithar Township without any documents and were arrested earlier this month. 

The Arakan State Department of Public Health has said it will start vaccinating against COVID-19 for a total of 4,300 health workers in the state starting January 27. 

The Myanmar government and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have teamed up to educate internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State about the risks of landmines. 

Two villagers from Aungthukha village in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, were allegedly beaten by an unidentified group while cutting bamboo at the foot of the Mayu mountain range and are being treated at Maungdaw Hospital for injuries. 

Arakan State’s Public Health Department says it will limit HPV vaccinations at relevant clinics to about 50 young girls a day to prevent crowding amid the coronavirus pandemic, as it undertakes a campaign to inoculate more than 33,300 girls in the state against cervical cancer.

A sugar mill in Kyauktaw town, which was the lone sugar refinery in Arakan State, has been closed for more than a year, resulting in livelihood difficulties for over 100 mill workers, they said.

Facing famine, moneys living on Thaylar Giri Mawra Patta Mountain, a famous pilgrimage site in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, are being forced down the mountain where they can be found asking for food from passers-by, according to the local pagoda board of trustees.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) are demanding guarantees for the return of local people displaced by the armed conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) in Arakan State. 

The Arakan State Directorate of Hotels and Tourism has allowed 40 out of 98 hotels and guest houses in the state to resume operations. Hotels were ordered to shut down after the second wave of COVID-19 hit the state in mid-August.

Local governments, the Tatmadaw and the state legislature are taking joint steps for peace in Arakan State, said U San Kyaw Hla, Speaker of the Arakan State parliament.

The Arakan State Hluttaw has endorsed a proposal urging the Union government to restore 4G internet services in parts of the state currently denied that access as more than 600,000 people in the area have lost rights to information as a result of the existing online restrictions. 

More than 5,000 tonnes of illegal timber worth over K400 million ($300,000) was confiscated in Arakan State from January to December last year, according to the Arakan State Forest Department.