A private health clinic in Yangon has closed on government orders, it announced, after a woman who reportedly worked there tested positive for coronavirus.
The International SOS Clinic will close for “an undetermined period” during which time it will provide teleconsultations and “fully collaborate” with the health ministry, it posted on Facebook at 10pm today.
The country reported a new case and the first coronavirus death today, as Aung San Suu Kyi said in a televised address that communities in Myanmar maybe quarantined if necessary to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The latest patient is a 45-year-old Myanmar woman from Yangon’s Bahan township who went to the local hospital on March 30 after developing a sore throat and fever three days before, according to the health ministry.
The woman is in a stable condition and is being transferred to Waibargyi hospital, said the ministry, bringing Myanmar’s total Covid-19 cases to 15 with one death.
She is the second locally transmitted case that has been confirmed by the government.
International SOS Clinic has a staff of Myanmar and international doctors and provides healthcare for locals, expats, and tourists, with its services tailored towards the international community.
The ministry specifically pointed out in its announcement that the clinic provides healthcare to foreign nationals, which would fit a narrative that the disease has been imported recently from abroad, with the first several patients over the last week returning from the UK, US and Australia.
Three French nationals and a Swiss woman have also tested positive for the virus, said the ministry.
But infection disease experts suspect coronavirus was transmitted locally before the first confirmed cases in Myanmar, which shares a long, porous border with China, where the disease originated.
A more accurate picture is not possible, because the government, with limited testing capabilities, has tested 517 people out of a population of 54 million.
The majority of confirmed cases have been in Yangon, while the other patients are in Chin and Shan states, Naypyidaw, and Mandalay.
The country reported its first coronavirus death today, a 69-year-old man who also had nasal cancer.
The government has acknowledged that the dispersal of tens of thousands of Myanmar migrant workers across the country has created a risk of a major outbreak after they crossed the border from Thailand last week.
Aung San Suu Kyi said today that community quarantines maybe necessary to curb the spread of the disease, but assured people that medicine and food would be available in such events.
People would be told of quarantines in advance, she said, adding that the public should stay at home as much as possible. She also thanked healthcare workers who are battling the virus.
Neighbouring India imposed a 21-day nationwide “total lockdown” on March 25 and the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for people not to panic, but crowds quickly mobbed stores across the country.
Some European countries have imposed partial lockdowns such as the UK, which has told its citizens to keep their outdoor activities limited to food shopping and exercise.
