YANGON – Residents across Myanmar’s biggest city are defying a military curfew in a desperate search for oxygen to keep their loved ones breathing as a new coronavirus wave crashes over the coup-wracked country.
The spike in cases is the latest blow to Myanmar, already suffering from a February coup and a bloody crackdown on dissent that has killed more than 900 people and gutted the economy.
Hundreds queued across Yangon as the sun rose yesterday in the hope of refilling blue oxygen cylinders to take home to family members stricken with Covid-19.
Some brought chairs and prepared for a long wait.
For others, it was too late.
“My sister was suffering from Covid-19 for three days,” Than Zaw Win told AFP as he left one of the queues in the city of some seven million.
“On the first day, she was dizzy with low (blood) pressure... and she suffered a lot yesterday (Tuesday) as she couldn’t breathe well.
“But while I was queueing to fill oxygen this morning, my niece called me to ask me to return home as my sister had died.”
Authorities logged over 7,000 new cases yesterday – compared with fewer than 50 daily in early May.
Millions in Yangon and the second city of Mandalay have been ordered to stay home, but the toll continues to rise and volunteer teams are stepping in to remove the bodies of victims from their neighbourhoods.
Ye Kyaw Moe, a sailor, said he slipped out at 3am – 30 minutes before the lifting of a military-imposed curfew – to get a place in the oxygen line.
But when he arrived at a refill centre here, there were already 14 others in front of him.
“I didn’t sleep the whole night. I also had to be careful to avoid soldiers, as we are still under martial law.”
The State Administration Council – as the junta calls itself – said there is no need for alarm.
“Actually, we have enough oxygen,” said a headline in the Global New Light of Myanmar, a state-backed newspaper.
“The people do not need to worry about it so much, and should not spread rumours,” the report quoted junta leader Min Aung Hlaing as saying.
But, Than Zaw Win disagrees.
“She had no other diseases... There is no way my sister would have died if we had enough oxygen.”
‘Through rain or sun’
Swathes of Myanmar were put under a partial lockdown last year, but enforcement has often been lax in the developing nation, where many have to choose between following regulations and feeding their families.
The new Covid-19 wave comes with the country reeling from post-coup violence, and with many medical workers joining a nationwide civil disobedience campaign against the military.
Infections are also seeping across its porous borders – last week, a cluster in the border city of Ruili helped push China’s daily caseload to its highest in six months.
Of the 57 cases reported nationwide, 12 involved Myanmar nationals in Ruili, said authorities.
Vaccine roll-outs have also been slow, with only around 1.75 million people vaccinated in the country of 54 million, said the junta.
“The junta lacks the resources, the capabilities and the legitimacy to bring this crisis under control,” said United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar Tom Andrews.
“The crisis... is particularly lethal because of the pervasive mistrust of the military junta.”
The spike is also compounding difficulties for already-overstretched humanitarian workers.
“Moving staff to where they can do the most good, moving aid to communities who need it, it all becomes more challenging,” said a Red Cross spokesman.
Myanmar is set to receive four million vaccine doses from China by the first week of August – too late for those fighting to breathe.
At another queue here, Aung Kyaw said he is hoping to get more oxygen for his wife.
The last time he wanted to fill up his 40l cylinder, he was kept waiting for 24 hours.
Unlike others, the 43-year-old said he cannot afford to travel across the city looking for refill centres where the queues are shorter.
“So, I need to wait and queue here through rain or sun, and the whole night, too.” – AFP, July 15, 2021
