We have seen a significant rise in coronavirus cases since mid-August after a surge of locally-transmitted infections, which struck Rakhine State in mid-August.
The cases that hit us is significantly upward, rising from around two digits in mid-August to nearly 200 a day now.
Over the past seven days, our country saw 180, 191, 99, 166, 82, 60 and 166 cases respectively. The seven-day trend indicates the peak was probably three or four days ago.
Meanwhile, over 70 per cent of the people who travelled between 10 to 27 August might have been infected by the coronavirus and most of them are now staying in parts of the country.
This is a wake-up call for the public to observe the COVID-19 health rules as carriers can spread the disease far and wide without ever realizing they’re ill due to asymptomatic infection.
On 8th September in Yangon, a cluster of over 70 cases are linked with a music zone in Yangon. Every business, especially with high risk environments, has a responsibility, and the people have a responsibility to comply with COVID-19 health and safety measures.
This virus has not gone away and we all must take responsibility for our own actions. We can only bring this local outbreak under control if everyone pulls together and follows the rules.
Besides, factories are urged to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines as the Ministry of Health and Sports and authorities concerned will conduct surprise inspections to reduce the risk from the spread of COVID-19.
The Ministry of Health and Sports is making arrangements for reducing the quarantine period from 21 days to 14 days and also considering to relax other restrictions depending on the findings by international experts. These measures show that the Union Government is taking all precautions extremely seriously.
The significant rise in new Covid-19 cases reported over the last two days should serve as a wake-up call. People are urged to maintain social distancing, and to keep taking measures to avoid spreading the virus to vulnerable sections of the population.
We need the help of everyone in our country to prevent the increasing and onward spread of coronavirus.
GNLM
