Authorities Tighten Checkpoints Around Myitkyina As COVID-19 Cases Rise
By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Local authorities have set up two checkpoints in Myitkyina after a stay-at-home order was imposed for two townships in Kachin State to control the spread of COVID-19: Mohnyin and Hpakant on Monday.
The order was issued on Thursday. The checkpoints to enter Myitkyina are at the 21-mile marker and at the Bala Min Htin Bridge.
“Currently, the authorities are allowing people from other townships to enter Myitkyina if they have a recommendation letter to travel,” General Administration Department officer for Myitkyina Than Win said. “People from Mohnyin and Hpakant townships can only travel in their townships. We are strictly checking up at checkpoints in Myitkyina to prevent the spread of the virus.”
According to Than Win, who is also the chairperson of Myitkyina’s COVID-19 Control and Response Committee, travelers without recommendation letters will not be allowed into Myitkyina.
“The problem is that there are more than 200 people in the quarantine facility. We have to find donors and feed these people in quarantine, so we are having many difficulties accepting all of the travelers into our quarantine facility,” GAD officer Than Win told NMG.
He recommended that people from Mohnyin and Hpakant stay home and not visit Myitkyina; the two townships have seen new cases of COVID-19 that were deemed to be local transmissions.
According to Kachin State’s health department, at the time of reporting, there was a total of 122 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, including 81 cases in Hpakant, 18 in Mohnyin, 15 in Myitkyina, five in Mogaung, one in Moemauk, one in Shwegu, and one in Waingmaw Township.
Burma’s Ministry of Health and Sports has reported 42,365 cases of the coronavirus nationwide, with 22,445 recoveries, and 1,038 and deaths.
