The government has hardened its stance on Covid-19 restrictions in Yangon after announcing another daily record in the number of infections in Myanmar since the pandemic began.
Stay-at-home orders will expand from 29 townships to the whole of Yangon region besides the remote island of Cocokyun from Monday (September 21) meaning trips outside are limited to one person per household for shopping or two for medical treatment.
Most employees must work from home, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports announcement, with the exception of food-related businesses, banks, gas stations, cold-storage plants, medical product manufacturers and distributers, drinking water distributors and “manufacturers of other personal-use items.”
Yangonites would have noticed that many wards under partial lockdown have taken a relaxed approach to the previous rules despite an initial frenzy of barricade building. The latest announcement may be an indication of stronger enforcement of the restrictions—something that will be revealed over the next few days.
Garment factories will close from September 24 to October 7, according to the announcement, and government staff will work on split schedules.
Travel has been banned in and out of Yangon and domestic airlines said that services have been suspended until the end of September. A 12pm to 4am curfew remains in place in Yangon region.
Today’s announcement did not specify a date for when the orders will be lifted. Aung San Suu Kyi told the nation on September 10 that “if we all obeyed these restrictions strictly for two or three weeks, we can arrive at a situation when this disease would be under control.”
Myanmar announced a daily record of 671 cases today—without detailing where the infections were found—bringing the total number of cases to 5,541 with 92 deaths.
