Myanmar and COVID-19: A Disaster in the Making
By Craig Evan Klafter
Myanmar had no confirmed cases of the novel Coronavirus, if their government is to be believed, prior to March 23. In a televised address on March 16, Aung San Suu Kyi claimed, “Until now, no one in our country is infected with COVID-19.” At the time, Myanmar mirrored North Korea’s claim of success in containing the spread of the disease. Both countries managed this despite having long borders with China.
The Myanmar government has not confirmed the measures it took to prevent the spread of COVID-19 over the 1,400-mile-long China-Myanmar border, one usually described as “porous.” Nor has it confirmed how it was containing the virus while it maintained regular flights linking Wuhan and Yangon up to February 6. Zaw Htay, government spokesman and Director General of the State Counsellor's Office, attributed the absence of COVID-19 to the “lifestyle and diet” of the Myanmar people, particularly the common practice of using cash instead of credit cards. Purported successful efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in Myanmar also included Buddhist Monks praying for the health of the country.
On March 27, Myanmar had just one laboratory, seven microbiologists, and four machines testing COVID-19, and so far, had tested fewer than 300 people. In 2017, Myanmar reported a population of 53.37 million people.
Measures were taken to alleviate public concern despite the so-called absence of the virus. In a presentation at Yangon General Hospital, medical professionals assured attendees: “Don’t be so afraid of the coronavirus. It won’t last long because it’s ‘Made in China.’”
While Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian government were boasting about no cases of COVID-19, the Tatmadaw (military) came to a different conclusion. Rather than publicize its skepticism, it opted for a public display at the Myanmar Parliament. The focus of Myanmar citizens on the Parliament had been on debates over proposed constitutional amendments when all 116 Tatmadaw lawmakers stole the spotlight by showing up wearing protective face masks.
By early April, nearly every foreign embassy in Myanmar—perhaps for the first time—sided with the Tatmadaw and evacuated their staff and instructed their nationals to leave the country. On March 22, Thailand established a requirement that people flying from Myanmar to Thailand have proof of a negative COVID-19 test. The problem, there is no way to get an elective COVID-19 test in Myanmar. Effectively, Myanmar’s neighbor quarantined the country that allegedly did not have the virus.
Between March 23 and April 1, Myanmar admitted fourteen infections and one death from COVID-19, but the Myanmar government has stressed that all the individuals had travelled back to Myanmar from outside Asia. More recently, it has also blamed migrant workers returning to Myanmar from Thailand. So far, Myanmar has displayed an unwillingness to acknowledge that COVID-19 originated in China, and that many Myanmar citizens in the north of the country along its Chinese border might have contracted the virus. China is Myanmar’s largest foreign investor, and has been offering uncritical assistance to Aung San Suu Kyi as Western countries pulled back. Jeopardizing that relationship would not be to her advantage. On March 31, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government blocked more than 200 websites, claiming they publish false news and contribute to instability in the country. Some of these websites offer credible information about COVID-19, which the Myanmar Ministry of Health has not yet provided.
Myanmar began encouraging mitigation during the second half of March, by closing its land border to foreigners and banning all international flights. On April 5, Myanmar reported twenty-one people infected and one person dead of COVID-19, conclusions based on only 1,108 tests. Dr. Tha Tun Kyaw, Director-General of Myanmar’s Ministry of Health said, “We reckon Myanmar will not experience the high rates of death and infection that some European countries have seen because of the [warmer] climate here,” an idea that is contradicted by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dr. Tha Tun Kyaw also claimed that Myanmar has “enough equipment, medicine and medical professionals” to deal with the pandemic. This is a truly remarkable statement given that the WHO ranked its health care system 190 out of 190 countries, and decades without a patent law has plagued Myanmar with substandard and counterfeit medicines that led to a polio outbreak and a U.S. travel warning in 2019. On April 3, the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar issued a COVID-19 Product Fraud Alert about counterfeit, falsified, and substandard medical products and medicines.
Moreover, it is unclear if Myanmar’s “Rohingya” population have received any guidance about COVID-19. The “Rohingya” have long faced challenges in securing medical care, and even with guidance regarding the virus, they are ill-equipped to mitigate its impact. Nearly all international aid workers have evacuated their townships and Myanmar. They have been left defenseless against COVID-19 allowing the virus to contribute to their genocide.
Significant foreign assistance is unlikely to be forthcoming as Myanmar claims it does not need assistance and donor countries wrestle to meet their own needs for protective gear, ventilators, and medication. It appears likely given its denials, late response, inadequate preparations, and what has been seen elsewhere that Myanmar is heading towards a COVID-19 disaster of epic proportions, which might impede the world-wide effort to deal with the virus.
Craig Evan Klafter served as Rector and Professor of History at the American University of Myanmar from 2014 through 2018. He earned BA and MA in History from the University of Chicago and DPhil in Modern History from Oxford University. He has taught at the University of Manchester, University of Southampton, Boston University, and American University of Myanmar; and has served as an executive of the University of British Columbia, Oxford Brookes University, and the American University of Myanmar. He is the author of more than a dozen books and articles on legal history, national identity, and higher education.
“Trishaws and Man, Yangon Myanmar” by Adam Cohn is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
