With Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township emerging as a Covid-19 hot spot, markets and restaurants will only be permitted to open for business half day, starting July 10, in an attempt to slow the spread of the deadly virus.  

“There are more than 200 to 300 virus patients in Maungdaw Township. Therefore, according to the decision of the township-level Covid-19 Control and Emergency Response Committee meeting, all markets and restaurants in Maungdaw Township will be allowed to open only for half a day starting tomorrow,” U Maung Aye Thein, assistant director of the township development committee, told DMG.

“If the vendors are forced to sell like this, it will be very difficult for them to earn a living,” said Daw Ma Thein Khaing, a fruit seller, recalling the lost revenues that accompanied the two previous waves of the pandemic due to similar restrictions on businesses’ hours of operation.

U Maung Aye Thein of the Maungdaw Township Development Committee said shops would be allowed to sell for half a day and trucks entering from Yangon and Sittwe would not be allowed to enter until after 1 p.m.

A total of 289 cases of Covid-19 were recorded as of July 9 in Maungdaw Township, where Covid-19 cases have been reported since early June.

Thirty of those patients have been discharged from the hospital and three deaths have been attributed to the disease.

Of those not yet discharged, 44 virus patients are being treated at Maungdaw District People’s Hospital, while 27 are receiving medical treatment at an indoor stadium and Thiri Mingalar Hall, which were converted to temporary hospitals.

The remaining virus-positive patients are primarily border guard personnel and their families, who are in isolation at their respective units’ bases.