Forty prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19 in Myanmar’s Insein jail where some of the thousands of anti-coup protesters who have been arrested by the junta are being held, BBC Burmese language news reported on Thursday, citing a prison official, Reuters reported.

A spokesman for Insein jail in Yangon did not answer calls from Reuters seeking comment on the report.

Authorities at the colonial-era jail have stopped sending prisoners to attend court hearings either at a special facility inside the jail or to courts in the city, Zayar Lwin, an activist and former political prisoner who was freed from Insein in April, told Reuters.

Photo: A man sits in front of Insein Prison in Yangon on April 12, 2021, while waiting to visit inmates ahead of the long holiday stretch for the Myanmar New Year, also known as Thingyan, as the country remains in turmoil after the February military coup. Photo: AFP