A total of 431 civil society organisations in Myanmar have sent an open letter to the UN Human Rights Council calling its attention to human rights violations, armed conflicts and dire humanitarian conditions in the country’s ethnic regions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) has increased by thousands in recent weeks due to military operations in Kyauktaw Township, according to a lawmaker and local residents, even as new COVID-19 cases pile up across Arakan State and lockdowns continue. 

Two brothers were reportedly shot near Ngwe Taung Pauk Bridge in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, at about 8 p.m. on September 20, according to local residents. 

Residents of Maday Island in Kyaukphyu Township, many of whom depend on the local fishing industry, say they are facing livelihood difficulties as their catches are not fetching a good price at market during the COVID-19 outbreak in Arakan State.

Although the fishing season has ostensibly resumed this year amid the scourge of a recent COVID-19 outbreak, onshore fishermen in the town of Ngapali are struggling to restart their operations, according to businesspeople in the fishing industry.

Fighting flared between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army on September 20 near Kuntaing village in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township after two landmines exploded there, according to locals.

Overcrowding at camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in downtown Rathedaung, Arakan State, is making it difficult for them to accommodate the arrival of more IDPs.

Sixteen student unions sent an open letter to the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) on September 19 asking it to open special offices to field complaints in locations where human rights violations and civilian casualties are reported due to conflict in Arakan State.

Seven coronavirus patients have been put on oxygen concentrators and one more suspected COVID-19 patient has died in Arakan State, according to doctors.

Pregnant women face shortages of medicine at some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the expectant mothers in question.

Four Muslim men arrested near Linti Creek in Maei town, Arakan State, are reportedly being detained at the Immigration and National Registration Department office in Taungup Township.

The Indian Embassy in Yangon and its Consulate General in Sittwe have donated relief materials including rice, cooking oil, chana dal (pulses) and stationery for internally displaced people (IDPs) at the Alodawpyei Monastery in the Arakan State capital.

Myanmar ethnic nationals living in Japan have called on the Japanese government to provide assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State.

A woman was killed and four others were injured when a landmine exploded in Paletwa Township, Chin State, on the morning of September 18, according to locals. 

The flow of goods in Arakan State has been reduced by 80% due to a recent surge in coronavirus cases that prompted a lockdown of the state, according to the Arakan State Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Myanmar’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology on September 16 announced that heavy rains and strong winds are expected in the coming days across much of the country due to Tropical Storm Noul. 

Dozens of refugees sheltering at a Muslim displacement camp in Bangladesh staged a protest on September 17 against the recent detention of three university students from the Arakan Students’ Union. 

The Tatmadaw True News Information Team released a statement on September 16 saying it would take action under the military justice system against three soldiers for the gang rape of a woman in Ugar village, Rathedaung Township.  

Armed conflicts between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed organisations were accompanied by 446 cases of human rights violations in the six months from January through June 2020, according to 13 watchdog groups reporting on the issue.