The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) COVID-19 Control and Response Committee stopped training sessions and closed schools, churches and any other facilities where people gather from July 12-18 after an increase of infections.

The measure came after over 250 tested positive in its controlled area in Kachin State.

A source told NMG most cases are in Mai Ja Yang, where authorities have been testing every student since Saturday after discovering more than 160 infections.

The woman revealed some of the residents from Paka Htawng internally displaced persons camp have COVID-19.

A second source said that all of the confirmed cases are receiving medical care in the Federal Law Academy building in Mai Ja Yang. They said infections are increasing every day.

“I think there are almost 300 patients,” the local said, who was also being tested the same day NMG contacted them.

According to the source, students from Mai Ja Yang College, Mai Ja Yang Institute of Education Department, Mong Myit Sile school and a boarding school tested positive.

A third person said neighborhoods are locked down and health officials starting to administer preventive medicine.

In Laiza, KIO's de facto capital, the COVID-19 Control and Response Committee began testing on Sunday, June 11.

There were no cases detected in KIO's area before the February 1 military coup during Burma's first and second waves from 2020 to early 2021.