Myanmar will shorten its nightly curfew by two hours starting from tomorrow, the government’s Covid-19 response committee announced.
Just in time for the weekend, the curfew will change from 10pm-4am to 12am-4am. But with bars still closed and a ban on gatherings of five or more people remaining, Yangon’s night owls shouldn’t get too excited.
The government is scheduled to drop the curfew on June 18 and to reopen Yangon airport to international flights tomorrow (May 15).
Meanwhile, local media reported that 13 people in Yangon, including in downtown's Pazundaung township, were arrested under the 1995 Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases Law and fined 5,000 kyats for not wearing a face mask outside yesterday.
Covid-19 precaution measures have brought economic hardship to scores of people in the city, but even during normal times, a 500-1,000 kyat expenditure would cause consternation for many, a 5,000-kyat fine even more so.
Although not recommended by the World Health Organisation, single-use masks are likely to be reused every day to avoid arrest—the number of which would be in the tens of thousands if the measure was imposed in a similar manner across the city.
As of this morning, Myanmar confirmed 181 Covid-19 cases, six deaths, and 79 recoveries.
