MANDALAY (Agencies): Catholic leaders in Myanmar have taken a series of steps to check the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus [SARS-CoV-2] as the country grapples with a third wave of the contagion that is spreading quickly nationwide, claiming the lives of several priests and throwing health facilities out of whack reported.
Archbishop Marco Tin Win of Mandalay, urged the faithful to be more attentive to Covid-19 prevention “Please wash your hands, wear face masks, social distance and don’t visit other homes as the new variant of the virus is dangerous as suggested by healthcare workers,” he said.
Archbishop urged people not to lose hope and keep their strong faith despite the uncertainty and insecurity amid the political turmoil.
The archdiocese recently set up a group to help Covid-19 patients access much-needed oxygen tanks and called on parishioners to make donations.
Bishop John Hsane Hgyi of Pathein, also called on priests, religious and laypeople to ensure Covid-19 prevention and urged priests to focus on raising awareness of the virus.
“We need to do prevention as there is no proper healthcare service and a lack of volunteers and healthcare workers at quarantine centers. The rate of infections is rising and the death toll has risen, so we must be very careful about the danger of the deadly virus,” the bishop said.
‘We need to do prevention as there is no proper healthcare service and a lack of volunteers and healthcare workers at quarantine centers. The rate of infections is rising and the death toll has risen, so we must be very careful about the danger of the deadly virus’
Bishop John Hsane Hgyi
The Church leaders’ concerns come after the Myanmar saw a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases since May starting in the Sagaing region and Chin state, bordering India.
Three priests from Kalay Diocese in Sagaing died within a week in late May and several more are suffering from symptoms of the disease, according to Church officials.
Hundreds of people have died from Covid-19, and hospitals and quarantine centres in Kalay town in Sagaing are full, forcing many patients to stay at home, according to media reports.
The spike in cases has prompted the suspension of public Masses in the Diocese of Hakha in Chin state, and new burial guidelines for Catholics in Kalay town.
Amid the new outbreak, the clergy will not go to funeral houses and will instead wait at cemeteries to bless the deceased.
There is a lack of doctors, nurses and volunteers at public hospitals, and quarantine centres as thousands of health workers joined the civil disobedience movement to oppose military rule.
Effective July 4, the Archdiocese of Mandalay suspended public Masses and other liturgical services and will carry out funeral services with only family and relatives present.
The country’s Covid-19 campaign collapsed along with the rest of the health system following the military coup on February 1 and the detention of elected civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi who had spearheaded testing, quarantine and treatment [Sunday Examiner, February 7].
There is a lack of doctors, nurses and volunteers at public hospitals, and quarantine centres as thousands of health workers joined the civil disobedience movement to oppose military rule.
The Myanmese military—the Tamadaw—has responded to protests with brutality. The Diplomat reported that doctors and frontline heath workers are targets of intimidation and some have been disappeared.
“The junta is purposely targeting the whole healthcare system as a weapon of war,” the Associated Press [AP] reported one Yangon doctor as saying on JUly 6.
“We believe that treating patients, doing our humanitarian job, is a moral job… I didn’t think that it would be accused as a crime,” the doctor, speaking anonymously, said.
AP reported that according to Insecurity Insight, which analyzes conflicts around the globe, at least 157 healthcare workers have been arrested, 32 wounded and 12 killed since February 1. In recent weeks, arrest warrants have increasingly been issued for nurses.
The Church has played a leading role in raising Covid-19 awareness, providing religious buildings to be used as quarantine centres, contributing donations and sending young people as volunteers at quarantine centres as the first and second waves of the contagion last year.
