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YANGON: Some residents of Myanmar’s largest city used driftwood and corrugated iron to barricade around their neighborhoods late on Friday (Sept. 11), trying to avoid COVID-19 as the country grapples with a second. wave of infections.
The Southeast Asian nation has reported a total of 2,625 coronavirus cases and 15 deaths. The number of infections has quadrupled since mid-August, when the virus reappeared in the western state of Rakhine after weeks without a domestic case.
People walk past a makeshift barricade blocking a street to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Yangon, Myanmar, on September 12, 2020. REUTERS / Shwe Paw Mya Tin
Many of the recent cases have occurred in Yangon, the commercial capital and the largest city. Residents began erecting makeshift roadblocks to prevent people from freely entering and leaving their districts.
Last week, government authorities issued stay-at-home orders for residents, and airlines and buses suspended services in and out of the city.
A woman passes a package to a man behind a makeshift barricade, blocking a street to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Yangon, Myanmar, on September 12, 2020. REUTERS / Shwe Paw Mya Tin
Aung Zaw Min, the head of a district in Kyimyidaing Township guarding one of the barriers, said residents had been neglected to keep the virus at bay after the low rate of infections.
“Now we have to realize that we cannot underestimate the massive infection caused by Sittwe,” he said, referring to the state capital of Rakhine, where many recent cases were detected.
The barricades were built without permission from local authorities, who quickly ordered the larger barriers removed, although some were still in place on Saturday.
People chat with a barricade between them blocking their street to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Yangon, Myanmar, on September 12, 2020. REUTERS / Shwe Paw Mya Tin
Some social media users mocked the barricades, joking that residents had turned the city’s neighborhoods into “mini-republics.”
“It’s like the border gate between South and North Korea,” said Lu Zaw Oo, standing on a street that had been sealed off on Saturday. “The barricade is not really necessary,” he added.
Of the 180 new cases reported on Saturday, 124 were in Yangon, the Health Ministry said.
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